Denny Hamlin delivered a signature bow honoring the late NASCAR legend Kyle Busch after winning the NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday night. But drew the line on smashing the guitar.
Hamlin survived a late restart and beat fellow Joe Gibbs Racing teammates to take the checkered flag. To pay his tribute to Busch following his death last week, Hamlin celebrated the Cracker Barrel 400 victory with a bow while holding the checkered flag.
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Ahead of Sunday’s race, many fans wondered if Nashville’s winner would recreate the famous celebration as a tribute to Busch. Standing in victory lane with the guitar trophy still intact, the 44-year-old explained why he chose not to.
“That was unexpected. … Kept the guitar. Kept the thing intact. I worked too hard to mess the thing up. Such a great trophy here in Nashville. … This is one I did not expect to win, but we got it done on the restart and it had a great stretch out there with my teammates,” Denny Hamlin said.
Busch’s original guitar smash at the 2009 O’Reilly Auto Parts [Nationwide] Series race came after he promised his team he would destroy the trophy if he ever won at the track. He wanted to break the custom painted Gibson Les Paul guitar trophy into pieces so every crew member could receive part of the trophy.
Busch won at Nashville again in 2021 but changed his mind. He faked another smash, then left that guitar in one piece after winning his 100th Xfinity [O’Reilly] race.
The two-time NASCAR Cup champion died on May 21 at age 41 after suffering complications from bacterial pneumonia that developed into sepsis and organ failure.
Denny Hamlin finally conquers Nashville in front of a sold-out crowd after near miss in 2025
Denny Hamlin’s win at the sold out Nashville Superspeeday came after a final restart and an hour-plus weather delay. The race ended in a three-wide battle among Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe. Hamlin in the No. 11 Toyota crossed the line first by 0.115 seconds and gave Toyota its first Cup win at the 1.33-mile concrete track.
Last year, he had a near miss. Hamlin started on the front row, won Stage 1 and stayed near the front all night in 2025. But in the closing run, Ryan Blaney and Carson Hocevar found another gear, and he crossed the finish line in third place.
Hamlin now sits at 62 Cup Series wins, just one behind the late Kyle Busch, who holds 63 career wins and ranks ninth on the all-time wins list.
Edited by Palak Gupta
