Who was Dennis Hamlin? NASCAR driver Denny's father who died in house fire | Today News

Dennis Hamlin, the father of NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin, died from injuries suffered in a house fire on Sunday. He was 75.

According to NASCAR, first responders arrived at a home in the Stanley community of Gaston County, North Carolina, after a fire was reported at 6:19 pm ET.

Authorities said two people were found outside the four-bedroom home when emergency services arrived at 6:27 pm and were taken to a nearby hospital with life-threatening injuries.

In an update Monday evening, officials from the Gaston County Office of Emergency Management and Fire Services confirmed that Dennis Hamlin had died from his injuries at the hospital.

Mary Lou Hamlin, Dennis Hamlin’s wife and mother to Denny Hamlin, was said to be in critical condition. She was reportedly transferred to a hospital in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where officials said she is “actively being treated.”

Officials said the cause is currently not known 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, NASCAR.com reported.

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.”

Dennis Hamlin took out multiple mortgages on his Virginia home, maxed out every credit card and nearly went broke trying to get his son into NASCAR.

Denny Hamlin made it 21 years ago — driving for Joe Gibbs, no less! — and his resume boasts 60 career wins, three Daytona 500s among that tally. There's not much left for his son to do at 44 years old.

Dennis Hamlin 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,” he was quoted as saying.

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.

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.”