CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — This dog could be here at least until the next round of the NASCAR playoffs.
The future of little Lulu, a stray puppy found by Denny Hamilton’s daughters under the Gateway Arch in St. Louis in June, has been uncertain since Hamilton decided her season was derailed by her growing family.
Hamilton also presented statistics to support his claims.
Before Lulu returned to North Carolina to live a life of luxury with the three-time Daytona 500 winner and her two daughters, Hamilton won three times, had an average finish of 12th and finished every race.
He also finished first in the Cup Series standings.
The very next week, Hamlin’s engine blew, giving him his first DNF of the season. He crashed at Indianapolis, crashed again at Daytona, was penalized severely by NASCAR for what Toyota did to his engine, was eliminated from the regular season championship race, and started the playoffs in seventh place.
Then the first two races of the opening round were disasters, and Hamlin went into Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night in danger of being eliminated from the 16-driver playoff. That’s when he (jokingly) tried to take Lulu back home, much to the dismay of his daughters.
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But when he finished fourth at Bristol (he felt he needed to win the race to avoid elimination) and advanced to the second round of the playoffs, Lulu took a break. That was the first question 11-year-old Taylor asked as he stood in front of his father’s car on pit road.
As Captain Chris Gabhart was packing up and setting out, Taylor called out to him.
“Then can Lulu still stay?” she asked.
“Close enough. Close enough,” Gabehart replied. “She survived another week.”
Taylor pumped his fist in joy and said, “Let’s go!” twice.
With 54 Cup wins, Hamilton is considered one of the best drivers ever to have won a Cup title, along with Hall of Famer Mark Martin. He’s come close. He finished second to Jimmie Johnson in 2010, finished third twice, and has made it to the winner-take-all season finale several times but ended up with nothing.
He turns 44 in November, and his lack of a championship ring has become a bit of a joke among Hamlin and his friends. When he got engaged to longtime partner and mother of his daughters Jordan Fish last December, he noted in a social media caption that Jordan’s ring count was one, while DH’s was zero.
Time is no longer on Hamlin’s side, especially with the way Kyle Larson is running right now. Larson led all but 38 of the 500 laps Saturday night to claim his fifth win of the year, while Hamlin’s teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, Christopher Bell, is actually the current points leader and has made the Final Four in each of the last two seasons.
Hamilton has not given up on his quest for that elusive Cup championship.
Next up is Kansas Speedway, where Hamilton has four career wins, including the spring race in 2023. He finished second in last year’s playoff race and fifth in May.
“From this point on, it’s all offense,” he said. “We’re going to Kansas. It’s a track we’ve been playing really well at, and we’re looking forward to the rest of the run.”
And at least for now, Lulu will stay at Hamilton House.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
