Denny Hamlin Nursing Significant Injury Heading Into 2026 Season

Denny Hamlin will head into the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season with a torn right shoulder after a fall at the site of the housefire that claimed the life of his father, Dennis, in the offseason.

Nov 2, 2025; Avondale, Arizona, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin (11) during the NASCAR Championship race at Phoenix Raceway. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

It's been a tumultuous offseason for Denny Hamlin, who missed out on his first NASCAR Cup Series championship in heartbreaking fashion at Phoenix Raceway after a dominant afternoon last November. Hamlin had to endure the mental load of an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR and the sorrow of losing his father, Dennis, in a house fire.

Now, as Hamlin, 45, heads into the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series campaign, his 21st full-time season in NASCAR's top division, prepared to nurse a significant injury.

In his media availability ahead of Wednesday's Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, Hamlin revealed that he re-tore his right shoulder, which was surgically repaired following the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season. According to Hamlin, the shoulder was bothering him near the end of the 2025 season, but Hamlin suffered a fall, which accentuated the issues, while combing through the carnage at the site of his parents' housefire.

"Kind of right after the season, it was just, you know, nagging me a little bit," Hamlin said of the shoulder. "Took a little fall at my mom's house, going through all the rubble and stuff, and just didn't feel right."

Hamlin says he will tough out the injury throughout the season and will have surgery to repair the shoulder at the conclusion of the 2026 racing season. Due to the timing of the injury, Hamlin said his only options were to deal with it or miss the opening few months of the season for recovery.

"Yeah, I mean I could, you know, the option as just to do [the surgery] now and you know, miss the first three, four months. Or, you know, just tough it out and do it the first day of the offseason," Hamlin noted. "That's what I'll do."

With NASCAR's change to the Chase format, sitting out isn't an option if Hamlin hopes to contend for a championship. Previously, a driver could receive a medical waiver from NASCAR, and as long as they won a race in the regular-season, it would allow them to advance to the Playoffs. Under the new championship format, only the top-16 drivers in the regular season championship standings will advance to the 10-race Chase for the Championship.

Hamlin, who has led a long NASCAR Cup Series career due to his physical fitness and ability to prepare for races, hasn't had much time to dive into racing in the offseason.

"Hard to believe I've gotta be in a car in a couple of hours," Hamlin said. "But you know, I'll have some rust and certainly feels like you didn't get much of an offseason. Obviously, no vacations, no fun stuff, anything like that."

While Hamlin knows it'll take some time to get back into his groove, he feels his body of work shows he'll be able to get back on the bike in 2026.

"I had, I thnk, one day at the race shop this -- you know, since Phoenix. And so, you know, just I don't know. It's good. Like I said, it's just going to take a little while to kind of get back into the swing of things," Hamlin explained.

Hamlin and the rest of the NASCAR Cup Series field will hit the track for the first race of the season, the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on Wednesday, February 4. This race serves as NASCAR's annual preseason exhibition event, and Hamlin appreciates the ability to have a "warm-up" race weekend to start things off.

On-track action is set to begin with practice and qualifying at 1:30 PM ET, and will be available on the FOX Sports App. The Last Chance Qualifier race will take place at 4 PM ET on FOX, and the Cook Out Clash Main Event will go live on FOX at 6 PM ET.