Dennis Hamlin, whose personal sacrifices helped support his son Denny’s eventual rise to NASCAR stardom, died from injuries suffered in a house fire Sunday. He was 75.
First responders arrived at a home in the Stanley community of Gaston County, North Carolina, nearly 20 miles outside Charlotte, after a fire was reported at 6:19 p.m. ET. Authorities said two people were found outside the four-bedroom home when emergency services arrived at 6:27 p.m. and were taken to a nearby hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Officials from the Gaston County Office of Emergency Management and Fire Services provided an update Monday evening via news release, confirming that Dennis Hamlin had died from his injuries at the hospital. Mary Lou Hamlin, Dennis Hamlin’s wife and mother to Denny Hamlin, was listed in critical condition and transferred to a hospital in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where officials said she is “actively being treated.”
Due to the extent of fire and resulting structural collapse, officials said the cause is currently undetermined but the investigation is ongoing.
Denny Hamlin had said as the 2025 season drew to a close that his father had been in declining health. He became emotional when speaking about his father during race weekends, and he had dedicated his most recent NASCAR win – in October at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – to him.
Denny Hamlin ranks in a tie for 10th on the NASCAR Cup Series’ all-time win list with 60 big-league victories, including three Daytona 500 triumphs. But those achievements on stock-car racing’s biggest stage have a foundation firmly rooted in his family’s backing, with Dennis and Mary Lou providing support at every stage of their son’s development.
“I wanted to be able to sit in my rocking chair and say I did everything I could to get him there,” Dennis Hamlin told the Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record in 2006. “I didn’t want no stone unturned.”
A young Denny Hamlin was introduced to racing early on, sitting on his father’s lap to watch televised races as a child. Dennis Hamlin quickly saw the youngster’s aptitude for the sport. “I saw his potential the first time I watched him drive a go-kart at 7 years old,” Dennis Hamlin told Cox News Service in 2006. “He wasn’t scared of anything. He could get on anything and just fly.” That first go-kart race resulted in victory, but he kept on driving after the end, leading his father and others on a wild chase after him as he continued to lay down laps after the checkered flag.
Denny Hamlin was born in Tampa, Florida, but Dennis and Mary Lou moved to the Richmond, Virginia area when he was 2. Dennis had taken a job as service manager for Great Dane Trailers, and he would later use his expertise to set off on his own, opening Chesterfield Trailer and Hitch with his son as a capable assistant.
“I worked at least 40 hours a week in the shop my senior year in high school,” Denny Hamlin told the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 2011. “I didn’t concentrate on my education as much as I should have, but we had a plan. And we didn’t have money for college. If I didn’t make it in racing, I was going to work in the trailer shop.”
Dennis Hamlin started a family-owned race team in one of the shop’s bays to help his son pursue his dream. The costs rose as Denny climbed the ladder from four-cylinder Mini Stocks to his eventual grassroots landing place in Late Model competition.
The trailer business paid the family’s bills, but the personal strain and expense of keeping the race team going began to mount. Dennis Hamlin took out two mortgages on their rancher-style house and sold four classic cars, including each of their personal favorites – Dennis’ 1932 Ford and Mary Lou’s 1967 Chevy Camaro Rally Sport convertible – to make ends meet.
The generosity of volunteer crew and fellow car owners kept the Hamlin team afloat once the family’s resources were fully tapped. Hamlin made the most of a Late Model ride with another team in 2003, topping the regulars for victories at South Boston (Va.) Speedway and winning the track championship that year at Southern National Speedway in Kenly, North Carolina.
Denny Hamlin’s big break came that same year. Joe Gibbs Racing acquired a Late Model car from Hamlin for a developmental driver test at Hickory Motor Speedway. The team tasked the young Hamlin with shaking the car down, and the control he showed in those tune-up runs drew the eyes of JGR’s Curtis Markham, a longtime driver in Late Models and what’s now called the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
“I said right there, ‘We need to hire this kid,’ ” Markham told Cox News Service in 2006. “I called J.D. (Gibbs) right then from my cellphone. He said, ‘Are you sure?’ I said, ‘We need to get him before somebody else does.’ “
Denny Hamlin was under contract soon after. Two and a half years later, he had reached NASCAR’s big leagues and landed his breakthrough victory in the Budweiser Shootout exhibition at Daytona.
“A ton of bricks fell off my shoulders right there,” Dennis Hamlin said. “My job was done.”
Denny Hamlin felt the same way, and he repaid them for their dedication – from his father’s efforts to his mother’s work operating the Denny Hamlin Fan Club.
“We never said you owe us this or pay me back for that,” Dennis Hamlin told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “One day, Denny pulled into our driveway and said, ‘Dad, you’re done.’ I said, ‘I’m done what?’ Denny said, ‘You’re done working and you’re moving to Charlotte.’ I said, ‘I’m not going anywhere,’ and he handed me the keys to a new house and said, ‘It’s furnished, take your clothes, sell the business. Mom works for me now. It’s set. You’re going. You’re retired.'”
In retirement, Dennis Hamlin watched his son go on to win 60 Cup Series races, something that Denny reflected on as he shared updates about his father’s health late in the 2025 season. His No. 11 team acknowledged his emotions after he scored his milestone 60th win on Oct. 12 at Las Vegas, telling him over the in-car radio: “We all know you earned that one for your dad.”
“He’s the one that got me into racing,” Denny Hamlin said in Las Vegas. “Just took me to a race track when I was 5, then made all the sacrifices financially to keep me going. Sold everything they had. We almost lost our house a couple times. Just tried to keep it all going. So I’m glad he was able to see 60. That was super important to me.”
