Denny Hamlin has a message for Martin Truex Jr.’s brother ahead of the Mexico City race

Ahead of the Viva Mexico 250, scheduled for June 15 at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City, NASCAR Cup driver Denny Hamlin left a message for Ryan Truex Jr. on social media. Truex will substitute Hamlin behind the wheel of the No. 11 during Sunday’s race at the 2.674-mile racetrack.

Hamlin will sit out the race to be with his fiancée, Jordan Fish, following the birth of their third child, a beautiful baby boy. As such, the race is going to be the series’ first point-paying race to be held outside of the US since 1958.

Ryan Truex Jr.'s older brother, Martin Truex Jr., is also a NASCAR driver and was asked to give his brother some advice ahead of the big race. A video of the same was uploaded on X by journalist Bob Pockrass. Reposting the pre-race interview, Denny Hamlin wrote,

“Make sure he (Ryan Truex Jr.) keeps his head on a swivel, Im known to show up mid race and tap you on the shoulder.”

Martin Truex Jr. used to be Denny Hamlin’s teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing. He retired at the end of the 2024 season but returned with Tricon Garage for this year’s Daytona 500.

The younger Truex, on the other hand, is currently a reserve driver for the Huntersville-based outfit. He owns over 100 starts and three wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Denny Hamlin will be racing again the following week, with a playoff waiver issued in his name. He sits third in the championship standings with seven top-fives, eight top-10s, and 494 points to his name.

Next up for the Tampa, Florida native is the Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway. Scheduled for Sunday, June 22, the 160-lap event will be televised on Prime Video with live radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, 2 pm ET onwards. Notably, Denny Hamlin happens to be a seven-time winner at the Pennsylvania-based racetrack.

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NASCAR grants Denny Hamlin a playoff waiver

As per the rules, a driver must show up for each regular season race to be playoff eligible. However, Denny Hamlin has been officially handed a waiver, even though he is going to miss this Sunday’s race in the heart of Mexico. His absence is considered to be due to medical reasons.

According to reports, this will be the first time since March 2014 that Hamlin will miss a NASCAR Cup Series race. He has competed in the previous 406 consecutive events and is now vying for his 58th career win.

A few weeks back, Hamlin made his 700th Cup start at Nashville Superspeedway. The following weekend, he bagged a victory at Michigan Superspeedway (his third this year) and became the 10th driver to win on their 701st start.

Reflecting on his milestone achievement, Hamlin said in the Actions Detrimental podcast,

"Usually by this time, the performance starts to go away... your performance is tailing off, and I just don't feel that way. I feel as strong as ever and I really wanted to win on 700. Will I be around to see 800? I don't think so. I think that that's probably closing. I don't know. We'll see. I've got to stay at this current level. The minute I feel like it's slipping, I'm out of here." (56:29 onwards)

Denny Hamlin is inching closer to his 60-win mark, which happens to be Kevin Harvick’s record. That being said, the winningest active driver in the NASCAR Cup series is Kyle Busch (63) of Richard Childress Racing. He also holds the records for most wins in the Xfinity (102) as well as the Craftsman Truck Series (67).