Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacts to Denny Hamlin sitting out NASCAR Mexico City race

Denny Hamlin stayed back home in North Carolina this past weekend as NASCAR made its way to Mexico City. Hamlin chose to stay home with his family after his fiancée Jordan Fish gave birth to the couple’s third child and first son.

As expected, NASCAR granted him a playoff waiver for missing the Viva Mexico 250 at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who called the race on Prime Video, said he felt Hamlin made the right decision by staying at home.

“I would have probably stayed home,” Earnhardt said on the Dale Jr. Download. “You gotta make that call considering all circumstances involved and they have two girls in the house, you got a third [on the way], mom’s gonna need a couple of days. Denny wanted to be home — I thought that was awesome. … I thought it was a great decision. There’s two NASCARS. There’s the old NASCAR where you drove with a broken neck, you raced with obvious concussions and you missed high school graduations of your kids. You missed all of the milestones, all the moments. But that’s the old NASCAR, and that’s not how we do it anymore.

“We’re in a new day and time where if you’ve got something you wanna be home for, you’ve got the opportunity to make that decision without it being such a detriment to what you’re trying to accomplish that season. And so, I have to remind myself of like, ‘Hey, man, it’s not like it fu*king used to be anymore.’ … I think if it was at Darlington, he would have ran the race, flew in and drove the fu*king car.”

Denny Hamlin set to return at Pocono

Ryan Truex piloted the No. 11 Toyota in place of Hamlin. He finished a respectable 23rd making just his 27th Cup Series start.

Hamlin should be back inside the car for this Sunday’s race at Pocono Raceway. A three-time winner already this season, Hamlin will be perhaps the favorite to win at “The Tricky Triangle.” Hamlin owns the track record with seven victories and has an average finish of 11.26.

His success at Pocono isn’t exclusive to the pre–Next Gen era. Hamlin took the checkered flag at Pocono in 2023 and finished second last season.