“Safety has come a long way in this sport, but sometimes we are reminded that it is a very dangerous sport.” Four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon said in 2020 after Ryan Newman’s crash on the final lap of the Daytona 500 sent him to the hospital. The Ford driven by Ryan Newman started to lose power, just enough to disrupt his rhythm, and one of the scariest collisions in modern NASCAR history occurred.
His car flipped into the air and caught fire when a small tap propelled him hurtling into the wall. Although the mechanical drop wasn’t particularly spectacular, it was sufficient to complete the scene. Newman barely made it out alive, but the lesson was obvious: when something goes wrong under the hood, it goes wrong quickly.
While Denny Hamlin’s incident at Texas was not so harrowing, it still involved a car on fire, and Hamlin’s race ending because of an engine problem. With multiple drivers having suffered this fate in recent times, does NASCAR have to do better? Denny Hamlin elaborated on his experience in the burning car on his latest Actions Detrimental episode.
Denny Hamlin’s fiery experience
The emotional toll was felt off the track as Denny Hamlin battled the heat and smoke in his vehicle. Just 73 laps into the race at Texas, the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry began to slow abruptly with just a few laps to go in the stage. Off the pace, the car spun out in Turn 1, as flames erupted from under the car in what appeared to be an oil fire. The radio conversation revealed that Hamlin was told to cycle the engine after claiming he lost power, and this just led to the thing blowing up in smoke. It was a scary sight, especially for Hamlin’s family, who were sitting and watching it unfold on the team bus.
Co-host Jared Allen recalled on the Actions Detrimental podcast, the atmosphere inside the team bus was surreal. Hamlin’s children, Taylor and Molly, along with his fiancée, Jordan Fish, were in panic mode as they saw the #11 catch fire. Allen said, “Your mom is on the couch, and Taylor is up there. Molly and Jordan are in the back. You could see the concern, you could see Taylor going over and yelling at Jordan, ‘Dad’s on fire’—that was a little surreal moment.”
Meanwhile, Hamlin sat inside the No. 11 Toyota, unaware of the full extent of what was unfolding behind him. His car had failed before a third of the race was done. The signs were subtle—but unmistakable to a veteran like Hamlin. “The engine didn’t make it to the end of stage 1. I just knew that it changed tones, one lap before, and then it started dying like it was running out of fuel. But nothing. Usually, when they light themselves up like that, it just happens,” he explained.
Denny Hamlin also touched on how he didn’t feel the smoke until his car was at rest, adding to the dangers of engine blow-ups. “Not till I stopped, truthfully. I didn’t feel anything until I stopped, and a lot of it was because the wind was pushing it back behind the car. But the smoke got bad really quick. When I came to a stop, that’s when the smoke started getting me pretty good,” Hamlin added. The scary part came when Hamlin could feel the smoke coming up the car.
Fire in the No. 11. Denny Hamlin is okay. pic.twitter.com/LjuFx6KyLK
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 4, 2025
Denny continued, “I haven’t been in that spot a ton. A little bit. You just don’t wanna get burned. I mean, you can feel the heat coming from wherever it is coming from. But the smoke is one thing that I don’t wanna get in my lungs and stuff like that. You got the safety vehicle people—they’re spraying it with all the substance and whatnot.” Had the fire escalated even a few seconds sooner—or had the smoke entered the cockpit quicker—this story could’ve ended very differently.
Blown engines are a worrying trend in NASCAR, and it has happened quite a few times in 2025 itself. Ryan Blaney experienced a blown engine on multiple occasions while being in a strong position to win the race, such as Homestead Miami and Phoenix. Blaney’s reaction? Eerily similar to Hamlin. He had no idea what was happening until it all changed in an instant. “I didn’t have any warning,” Blaney said. “It just laid over when I got back to wide-open down the front, and that was all she wrote. It just stinks.”
Furthermore, the emotional element adds yet another level of worry. Denny Hamlin made it out of Texas unscathed. However, his remarks and the failure of his engine left a message that should not be disregarded. Teams will now have to decide if three-race engines are a silent countdown or a viable standard. Because the next time, someone might not have time to realize they’re on fire until they stop.
Hamlin flags R&D as a financial trap in ‘Run What Ya Brung’ All-Star proposal
23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin has expressed his disapproval of the latest plan to change the format of the All-Star Race. In a recent interview with Frontstretch, Hamlin, who is well-known for his open opinions on the sport’s future, expressed his concerns. “I’m now a five-year experienced team owner. “I’m now a five-year experienced team owner. So, I think I know what it costs… Certainly, if we didn’t have to, junk up three cars, the cost of that goes down. But still, financially, it doesn’t make sense. The R&D itself would just cost a lot of money.” Hamlin remarked.
He continued by highlighting the sport’s existing heavy financial load, pointing out that even with the new proposal’s emphasis on single-source components, there would be no way to avoid the proposal’s rising expenses. He claimed that because of the nature of the new arrangement, teams would be “messing around” in areas that NASCAR would probably miss during tech inspections.
Hamlin’s caution echoes earlier worries, particularly about competitive fairness and the ability of smaller teams to compete. With the widening financial gap between major teams like Hendrick Motorsports and smaller businesses, this problem has gotten worse in recent years. For example, teams with greater resources, especially in research and development, gained an immediate advantage with the 2019 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Larger teams like Team Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing have therefore controlled the technological advancement of the sport.
He added, “Yes, I understand it’s your option to spend. But, we don’t all show up to just show up, we go to compete. Unfortunately, it would just be an arms race of who would be willing to spend the most.” With teams like Hendrick Motorsports frequently obtaining an advantage through superior resources, there is a genuine risk of an arms race in NASCAR. Jimmie Johnson’s seven victories, which benefited from superior engineering and data analysis, demonstrated this.
Hamlin’s worries regarding the All-Star Race underscore the fine line between innovation and unfairness as NASCAR struggles to strike a balance between competition and costs. New systems can put more pressure on teams like 23XI Racing that are attempting to rise through the ranks. While it’s meant to be exciting, Hamlin cautions that NASCAR needs to exercise caution when making modifications to prevent the sport from becoming a playground for the wealthiest teams.
The post “Dad’s on Fire” – Denny Hamlin Grasps the Grim Reality of Being the Victim of NASCAR’s Engine Problem appeared first on EssentiallySports.
