Denny Hamlin has let his guard down and opened up about a tragic event for the very first time in public, in which he lost his father.
The house fire that took the life of Denny Hamlin’s father happened back on December 28, 2025, at his parent’s home in Gaston County, North Carolina, near Stanley.
Denny’s dad, Dennis Hamlin, who was 75 years old, passed away the next day from the burns and injuries he got in the blaze.
His mom, Mary Lou Hamlin, made it out too, but she was severely injured and ended up in the hospital for a while. That said, she pulled through and even showed up to support Denny at the Daytona 500 not long ago.
And for the very first time, Denny has talked about how tough that whole thing was, especially in interviews he did right before the big race this year.
In the interview, the NASCAR star opened up about getting a call from his sister saying the house was on fire and basically everything was gone.
He revealed that his mother had managed to get his dad out of the bedroom and into the front yard, but by the time Denny raced over there as fast as he could, both of them had already been taken to the hospital.
Denny said the moment it really sank in was when he saw his dad lying there after he had passed. He recalled seeing how burned his father was, which hit him hard.
He also felt awful for his mother because she had witnessed the whole thing up close.
Denny recalled the moment saying:
I got a call from my sister that said the parents’ house is on fire, the whole house is gone. My mom took him from the bedroom to outside in the front yard. I was just driving so fast to try to get there and they said they had already been taken to the hospital.
Reportedly, at the time of the tragic event, his father, Dennis, had been dealing with late-stage COPD for a while, that lung condition that made breathing really difficult, so his health was already fragile.
Denny bought that house for his parents to live in, and losing it along with everything in it, plus his dad, made the offseason brutal.
He mentioned how his parents sacrificed a lot when he was growing up, mortgaging the house more than once, opening every credit card that came in the mail just to help him chase his racing dreams.
His dad was always his biggest supporter, calling him the best no matter what happened on the track, and they spent time reminiscing in the garage with old memorabilia.
In one of the talks he gave to Fox Sports before the Daytona 500, Denny said he feels like his dad is up in heaven now with a good friend named George, watching over him as he races.
His mom being there at the track was a bright spot amid all the sadness. He also aggravated an old shoulder injury while going through the rubble of the house afterward, but he pushed through it to compete.
Denny described 2025 as a trying year overall, with losing the championship, team stuff, and then this tragedy, but he decided to respond by getting tougher instead of giving up.
In fact, now racing carries deep meaning to help as he is honoring the memory of his father who helped him get to where he is today.
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