Hamlin set for 700th career start … maybe

Denny Hamlin will make his 700th start in the NASCAR Cup Series Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway.

The statement, however, comes with a caveat. Hamlin will make his 700th start as long as he doesn’t get the call that fiancé Jordan Fish has gone into labor with their third child. Fish is due Sunday.

“It’s obviously any minute,” Hamlin said before practice and qualifying for the Cracker Barrel 400. “I think Ryan [Truex] has been fitted in there, and if I get a call, I’ve got to go.”

Truex is Joe Gibbs Racing’s reserve driver for any situation where they need a substitute. He and Hamlin are of similar size, so the No. 11 team should not have to make much of a seat change if Truex has to get behind the wheel.

Hamlin, as of now, plans to stay in Nashville overnight, but he acknowledged there’s probably time he needs to set aside for when the decision needs to be made about having to go home since there is an eight-hour window where he’ll no longer be able to make both events happen (the race and the birth).

“Oh, yeah,” Hamlin said about the possibility that he wouldn’t race Sunday. “I can’t miss it. I certainly have to be there for her, and that’s the biggest priority. I wish she would hang on a little bit longer.”

NASCAR will allow a waiver for a driver who misses an event because of the birth of a child. It is one of the few exceptions where a driver can request and be granted one.

Hamlin will be the 22nd driver to reach 700 career starts.

The Virginia native made his first Cup Series start with Joe Gibbs in the fall Kansas Speedway race on Oct. 9, 2005. A year later, he won two races and was crowned Rookie of the Year. Since then, he’s won a total of 56 races, among those are three Daytona 500 wins, three in the Southern 500, a Coca-Cola 600 and an All-Star Race.

“It honestly feels good to still be as competitive as I was in [the first start],” Hamlin said. “What I’m most grateful for in all this is that, 700 starts later, I still can go out here and win this weekend. I don’t know if anyone has won it in their 700th, but I’d like to.”

No driver has won in their 700th start. Jeff Gordon is credited with being the driver who has the best finish in his 700th race – a third in his milestone start at Darlington Raceway in 2013.

Hamlin’s career longevity can be attributed to a number of factors – among them, Hamlin has driven for the same team his entire career and still finds enjoyment in putting in the work to get results.

“You don’t take for granted that you’re driving for one of the top three organizations that essentially win all the races,” Hamlin said. “That plays into the statistical columns that have been filled throughout my career. It certainly has been helpful, but I think most of it has been my ability and willingness to adapt to different scenarios, cars, tracks and aero packages. I never stop learning. Every racetrack I go to – it could be the 25th time I’m going to it, but I guarantee you I’m taking something there this weekend that I hadn’t thought of or hadn’t approached that way in the past, so always learning.”