Denny Hamlin shares emotional moment with mom, family after NASCAR Cup Series win at Las Vegas

Denny Hamlin is back in victory lane. And this one was extra emotional at Las Vegas. It was the first race that Hamlin won without his father, who died as the result of a house fire in December.

As Hamlin got out of his car after an extra long burnout to savor the moment, the emotions were written all over his face. He held himself together enough to provide a tear-jerking post-race press conference with FOX Sports’ Jamie Little as one of his daughter raced up to embrace him, crying as she did so.

Hamlin explained how tough it has been to simply get back into a racing mindset given everything that happened this offseason. It wasn’t easy.

“I mean I knew it took a few weeks to feel like driving and over the last couple weeks I’ve definitely regained my love of it,” Hamlin said. “Got refocused and these are great opportunities for us.”

As Denny Hamlin was speaking, his mother, Mary Lou Clark, entered the TV shot. A survivor of the house fire, she walked up to Hamlin, quietly saying: “That’s my boy. That’s my boy.”

The two shared a warm hug. And Denny Hamlin continued.

“Yeah, I mean this is a family sport,” he said. “My family obviously had so much sacrifice to help me get here. And now that I’ve grown in generations, Hamlins following me. Mom gets to see us. I know dad’s still saying that’s my boy. Hell of a day.”