Denny Hamlin will have all his playoff points in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs even though he’s missing Sunday’s race in Mexico City.
NASCAR granted Hamlin a waiver to keep his playoff eligibility on Friday after he announced Thursday that he would miss the race. Hamlin and fiancée Jordan Fish welcomed a son this week. The couple now has three children together.
Ryan Truex, the brother of former Joe Gibbs Racing driver and Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr., will drive Hamlin’s No. 11 for JGR in Mexico City.
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Hamlin had been open about missing a race if necessary for the birth of his son. Truex had been available as a standby driver in recent weekends as Hamlin and Fish awaited their third child’s arrival.
NASCAR tweaked its playoff waiver rules ahead of the 2025 season and said that a driver who skipped a race and made the playoffs wouldn’t be able to keep the playoff points he accrued in the regular season. However, the birth of a child is listed as a reason that NASCAR would give a waiver. If, for example, Kyle Larson missed the Coca-Cola 600 for a second-straight season after racing in the Indianapolis 500, he would have been forced to start the postseason without any playoff points.
Hamlin won last week’s race at Michigan for his third win of the season. He previously won at Martinsville and Darlington. Hamlin is currently third in the regular season standings behind William Byron and Larson and has scored 18 playoff points through 15 races. Only Larson, with 23, has more.
Sunday’s race in Mexico City will be the first Cup Series race in the country. The race is held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, the same track where Formula 1 annually hosts its grand prix. However, the Cup Series will compete on a slightly modified track with a different section around Turn 4.
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