NASCAR: How Denny Hamlin’s daughter ended his Talladega race

Denny Hamlin’s daughter brought a premature end to his eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.

There are several differences between competing in real-life NASCAR Cup Series races and competing in virtual races as a part of the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series, which NASCAR and iRacing introduced amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“Driving from the comfort of their own home” is a phrase that has often been used to describe the conditions with which the drivers have been faced over the first five races of this six-race virtual series.

But what they have also faced are distractions.

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Denny Hamlin, who won the opening race at virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway just over five weeks ago now, found that out firsthand in Sunday afternoon’s race at virtual Talladega Superspeedway.

During the 74-lap (extended from 70 laps due to overtime) race around the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) high-banked oval in Lincoln, Alabama, his seven-year-old daughter, Taylor, came into the room where his exorbitant sim rig is set up.

She entered the room with a remote.

“Dad, can we go downstairs and do go-karts?” she asked.

Hamlin “replied” by waving her off to try to get her to go away so that he could stay focused on the task at hand.

“Can we?” she asked again.

That’s when she hit the power button.

“Hey, my screen just went black!” shouted her shocked father.

“Uh oh…” she said, before quickly scooting away.

Hamlin, who was obviously irritated, did give his daughter the benefit of the doubt and tried to take it in stride with a smile, stating that “they’re just kids”.

Hamlin had led one lap after starting the race back in 36th place when the “incident” occurred and left him staring at a 39th (last) place finish, a finish which dropped him from second to eighth in the unofficial championship standings following the first five races of the series.

The sixth and final race of the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series is scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 3 at virtual Dover International Speedway. This race is set to be simulcast live on Fox, Fox Sports 1 and the Fox Sports app, just like the first five. The hope is that this will indeed be the final race of this virtual series and that real-life NASCAR action will resume as soon as possible.