What a son.
The NASCAR All-Star Race is in the books, and the general consensus seems to be that it was kind of a disaster. The race moved to Dover Motor Speedway this year, the track’s only race on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, and had to be held during the day because the track doesn’t have lights.
Overall the racing was actually pretty decent, and presented a good case for Dover to remain on the schedule. The problem, though, was the nonsensical format for this year’s race.
Instead of holding a traditional “open” race for cars not already locked into the field to have the opportunity to race their way into the main event, this year’s race was instead split into 3 segments. The first two segments featured all of the cars, and the final 200-lap segment was to feature all of the cars that were originally qualified, plus the six drivers with the highest average finishing position in the first two segments, plus the winner of a fan vote.
Confused? Yeah, so was I.
The problem, though, was that several of the cars locked into the final segment ended up wrecking during the first two segments, and either didn’t make it to the main event or were forced to race with severely damaged cars.
It was a mess.
At the end of the day, Denny Hamlin ended up dominating the final segment and went on to win his second career All-Star Race and taking home the $1 million prize.
And after the race, the driver of the #11 car revealed that he plans to put his winnings to good use.
When asked what he planned to spend the money on, Hamlin said that he planned on giving it to his mother:
And in his post-race press conference, he said that the money would be used to help his mom furnish her new house:
Of course Hamlin’s mother Mary Lou lost her North Carolina home late last December in a house fire that also killed his father, Dennis Hamlin. His mother also suffered injuries in the fire and was hospitalized, but was at the track earlier this year when Hamlin scored an emotional win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway:
https://www.instagram.com/reels/DPut5rfiUOq/
His mother has also used the tragedy to advocate for more funding for her local fire department, after it was revealed that the damage was made worse by the lack of available to firefighters:
“December 28th was one of the saddest days of my life. It was the last time I saw my husband of 52 years, when I pulled him out of our burning home. I didn’t understand at the time that the fire trucks were there but not the water.
There was no water to put out my house. I am advocating for funding to be included in this year’s budget. Training on emergency response, additional equipment, staffing … are just a few of the things to help strengthen the fire protection in our area, in which funds are desperately needed.”
Two pets were also killed in the fire, and Mary Lou was treated for severe burns.
There’s no doubt that it will be a long process to rebuild, and nothing could replace what they lost during the fire, but hopefully the extra million dollars will help make things a little easier.
