Several things set NASCAR ablaze this season. Ranging from Christopher Bell’s three-peat race victory to Josh Berry’s first Cup Series win, many feats spelled a fiery success. But alongside the metaphor, the sport also faced fires in reality. The brush fires of Los Angeles set off in early January, and NASCAR lent a helping hand. A similar wildfire also reached Homestead-Miami and a smaller one ignited in Denny Hamlin’s home!

The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran was hoping to have a chilled-out week after his Sin City bonanza. Denny Hamlin cashed in over $330 grand in Las Vegas – but his luck ran out on his front yard. As Hamlin recalls the incident that could have derailed his homely happiness, he still gets goosebumps.

Denny Hamlin anticipated a worse nightmare

We all know about the spine-chilling wildfires that affected California. Two of the blazes, the Palisades and Eaton fires, were two of the deadliest and most destructive in California history. It spanned a whopping 38,000 acres – the fires claimed 24 people, destroyed thousands of homes, and forced over 100,000 residents to evacuate. This incident will go down in L.A. history as one of the worst nightmares ever.

Denny Hamlin’s home is based in North Carolina – but even he felt the impact of the L.A. disaster. Living in a 2.8-acre lot on Lake Norman, Hamlin recalled the incident that shook him, saying, “So, man, it was scary for a moment. I didn’t know anything was wrong until I saw the maintenance guy running through the living room… And I’m like oh s—!” So what exactly happened at Hamlin’s home?

In a recent ‘Actions Detrimental’ podcast, Denny Hamlin recalled what happened soon after the Pennzoil 400 race, “If y’all saw my Instagram story last week, my yard was on fire. No, it was not a controlled burn.” Then he proceeded to explain the exact sequence of events. “I was outside, I got home and the landscaper just got here – he cranked it up… I was like, ‘Ooh, sounds like a rocket stuck in the blades or something.’ It was loud. He just kept on digging until something got hot enough and caught the lawn mower on fire more than it caught the yard on fire.”

Denny Hamlin’s Instagram stories demonstrated the impact – a large portion of his yard was set ablaze. After hosing it down, an ominous black patch remained. The incident was like a mini-L.A. disaster for him: “And you can understand on a serious note, how out of control the L.A. fires were – how quickly it spread because of the wind. This is on a much smaller scale, but the wind was carrying that fire – it would jump across my lawn to another part, catching on fire. And it was like 20 MPH, not like the 80 they were having out there.”

Another NASCAR driver came close to fire this season. But contrary to Denny Hamlin‘s catastrophe, the reasons for that were entirely intentional.

Trending

1

“It’s Touch and Go” – Dale Earnhardt Jr and Wife’s Partner of Nearly 15 Years Trembles Near to It’s End

2

Jeff Gordon Issues Stern 6-Word Warning to Chase Elliott as He Measures Him Against Kyle Larson

3

Dale Jr. Revives ‘Banned’ Grandfather’s Legacy as 13-Year-Old Earnhardt Prodigy Takes Hickory by Storm

4

“Very Dangerous”: Kevin Harvick Issues Warning for All NASCAR Drivers as Kyle Larson’s Monster Form Awakens

5

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Stripped of His Arrogance by Kyle Larson’s Unprecedented Moves

Playing with fire for a noble cause

Garrett Smithley is a full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series driver under SS Green Light Racing. However, he made the headlines this year for a reason outside the sport – or more specifically, his dad made them. Capt. R.K. Smithley has been a pilot since 1983 and for the past 11 years has flown an air tanker for rescue missions. When the wildfires hit Southern California, he was part of the relief effort – Smithley flew upward of six missions a day to drop fire retardant to help stop the flames. He was flying a DC-10 just a few hundred feet above the ground, at 170 mph, and carrying an 85,000-pound load. All the while, he was dealing with heavy winds, hilly terrain, other aircraft in the area, and thick smoke.

Recounting his noble efforts, R.K. Smithley stressed that dealing with fire is not for the faint-hearted. “Some guys adapt to this, some don’t,” said Smithley, father of NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Garrett Smithley. “It takes kind of a little bit of a psycho, for lack of a better word, to adapt and excel. You’ve got to be able to excel at this and be able to put retardant on the ground in very challenging conditions, as we’ve had out here in California. We’re doing all this in a 400,000-pound airplane, alongside a mountain doing 10 degrees, nose-down pitch, which the airlines classified as an emergency descent — that’s what we do routinely here.”

Clearly, Denny Hamlin had good reason to be worried when his yard caught on fire. Let us hope that the veteran brings fire – metaphorically – to the racetrack soon and ends his 31-race winless streak.