CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The dog can stay. At least for one more round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
The future of little Lulu, the stray puppy that Denny Hamlin’s daughters found under the Gateway Arch in St. Louis in early June, has been in doubt ever since the Joe Gibbs Racing driver decided the addition to his household had derailed his 2024 season.
Hamlin even had stats to back up his claims.
Before Lulu returned to North Carolina for a life of luxury with the three-time Daytona 500 winner and his two little girls, Hamlin had three wins and an average place of 12th this year, having at least finished every Cup Series race. He was also first in the points standings.
The very next week, Hamlin’s engine blew and he was unable to finish at Sonoma Raceway. He crashed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July, crashed again at Daytona International Speedway in August, was dealt a severe penalty by NASCAR for something Toyota did to his engine that took him out of contention for regular-season champion, then started the playoffs seventh in the standings.
The first two races of the opening round were disastrous — he was 24th at Atlanta Motor Speedway and 23rd at Watkins Glen International — and Hamlin went to Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night in danger of being one of the four title contenders eliminated from the 16-driver playoff field. That’s when he (jokingly) began looking for a new home for Lulu, much to his daughters’ dismay.
He figured he would have to win at the Tennessee short track, something he’d done four times previously, to advance. When his fourth-place finish allowed him to move on, Lulu received a reprieve.
It was the first thing 11-year-old Taylor asked on pit road as she stood in front of her father’s car. Chris Gabehart, the crew chief for Hamlin’s No. 11 JGR Toyota, had packed up and was headed out when Taylor summoned him.
“Can Lulu still stay, though?” she asked.
“Close enough. Close enough,” Gabehart replied. “She survived another week.”
Taylor pumped her fists in joy and twice shouted: “Let’s go!”
Hamlin’s 54 career victories on NASCAR’s top circuit are more than any driver without a Cup Series championship, although he has come close. He was runner-up to Jimmie Johnson in 2010, finished third twice and has been one of the four drivers eligible for the title in the season finale four times in all, only to come up empty.
Hamlin turns 44 in November, and his lack of a championship ring has become a bit of a running gag between the driver and his friends. When he got engaged last December to longtime partner Jordan Fish, the mother of his daughters, he noted in the social media announcement that the ring count was one for her, zero for him.
Time is no longer on Hamlin’s side, though, especially with how Kyle Larson is running right now as he seeks a second Cup Series title to go with his 2021 crown. The Hendrick Motorsports star led all but 38 of the 500 laps Saturday night at Bristol, picking up his fifth win of the year.
On top of that, Christopher Bell, one of Hamlin’s three JGR teammates, is the current points leader and has made it to the final four the past two seasons, when Hamlin wound up fifth in the final standings both times.
The four drivers eliminated Saturday included two former Cup Series champs — RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski, who in 2012 for Team Penske, and JGR’s Martin Truex Jr. who won in 2017 for Furniture Row Racing — along with JGR’s Ty Gibbs and Wood Brothers Racing’s Harrison Burton. Truex is retiring from full-time competition after this season, while Burton is being replaced at Wood Brothers.
Along with Bell, Hamlin and Larson, the drivers who advanced were Hendrick’s Alex Bowman, William Byron and Chase Elliott, Penske’s Ryan Blaney (last year’s Cup Series champion), Austin Cindric and Joey Logano, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick (this year’s regular-season champ), Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe and Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suárez.
With the season is down to its final seven races, Hamlin isn’t giving up on his quest for that elusive championship.
The playoffs continue next Sunday at Kansas Speedway, where Hamlin has four career victories, including the spring race in 2023. He was second in the playoff race there last year and fifth at the track this past May.
“It’s all offense from this point forward,” he said. “We’re going to Kansas, a track we’ve been really good at, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the run.”
And, at least for now, Lulu gets to stay.