Over the past four months, Denny Hamlin has taken hits that would rattle anyone to the core. In November at Phoenix, the Cup title slipped through his fingers on the final restart, leaving him to watch another shot vanish in plain sight. Weeks later, in December, he lost his father after a fire tore through his parents’ home. One punch came at the track, the other at home, and both landed flush.
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Hamlin’s mother suffered burn injuries in the blaze. As the JGR driver sorted through what remained of the house, he stumbled and reopened trouble in his shoulder, aggravating a rotator cuff that had already been repaired in 2024 after a torn labrum.
On media day at Bowman Gray Stadium, he admitted the setback would require surgery, but he chose to table that decision until after the 2026 season.
Kyle Petty heard all that and sees storm clouds. Speaking with Steve Letarte and Alex Weaver on the Inside the Race podcast, Petty did not sugarcoat it. “Listen, to match what he did last year would be unthinkable. Because I’m that year was where his head was, what he went through, everything that went on last year on the racetrack, he was at the top of his game at the very top. And that’s what concerns me coming into this year.”
“He’s not 100% physical. He said it. There’s no way, and unless he can just pull that brain out and set it somewhere that he can be at the top of his game emotionally. He has taken massive blows over the winter. From the time we left Phoenix, that was an emotional blow… to not win that championship for him.
“And then everything that happened with his parents… it is tough to recover from that in a short period of time.”
Petty knows how grief can ride shotgun. He hopes that when Hamlin straps in and wraps his fingers around the wheel, he can find a measure of peace. Drawing from his own life, Petty recalled that after his son, Adam’s, accident, the place he felt closest to his son was inside the car, gripping the wheel and settling into the seat.
That is why Petty believes the cockpit may become a refuge for Hamlin, too, a place where he can feel close to his father while carrying on the work they began years ago.
No one can see inside Hamlin’s heart. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver will have to dig deep and shoulder the weight that followed him into this season. And how he answers that call will say plenty about him. Hamlin’s human side may sit closer to the surface, but that cannot be mistaken for surrender. When the visor drops, he will still chase wins and run at the front.
Whether Hamlin stands there at the end remains a question for all, but as far as Petty is concerned, he expects Hamlin to be in the thick of the fight when it counts.
