When the Race Is Over Before It Even Begins (2024)

If you blinked on Sunday (June 9), you might’ve missed Denny Hamlin running laps at Sonoma Raceway.

Everything seemed fine at the start, but Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota soon detonated an engine after completing just two of the 110 laps.

Hamlin’s entire race — from taking the green flag to the aftermath of his blown engine — clocked in at just over four minutes, and he later joked that they “beat everyone home.”

Hamlin’s “race” — which humorously came in his 666th NASCAR Cup Series start — marked the fewest number of laps he had ever completed in a Cup event, breaking his prior “record” of 14 (out of 160 laps) in an August 2013 event at Pocono Raceway.

The engine failure came as quite a surprise, as it’s uncommon to see an engine let go in a plume of smoke nowadays, let alone just after the race begins. To that point, Hamlin’s race marked the earliest engine DNF since 2021 (more on said race later), and it also marked the second week in a row that a car for Joe Gibbs Racing had a mechanical issue.

While rare, it’s not unheard of for a driver to complete just a handful of laps before bowing out. Using all the full-time Cup drivers in the 2024 field, here are the other times — excluding start and parks — where a driver retired from a Cup race after completing less than five laps:

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., May 2020 Darlington. 0/293 Laps, Crash

NASCAR became the first major professional sports league to triumphantly return from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Its first Cup race back started with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spinning out of turn 2 and slamming the inside wall at Darlington Raceway before the first lap was even completed.

As of today, he is the only active, full-time Cup driver to have a race where he failed to complete lap 1.

Justin Haley, April 2021 Richmond. 1/400 Laps, Engine

Hamlin’s Sonoma failure marked the quickest mechanical DNF since Justin Haley at Richmond Raceway in 2021, where he completed a whopping one lap of the 3/4-mile short track before pulling it behind the wall with engine trouble. Ironically, he was the only DNF of the race; the other 37 cars completed at least 384 of the 400 laps.

Christopher Bell, October 2020 Talladega. 1/200 Laps, Crash

On lap 1 of the second race at Talladega Superspeedway in 2020, Christopher Bell crashed after his No. 95 car blew a right rear tire in turn 3. He drove around to complete the first lap, but later pulled into the garage as the damage was unable to be repaired.

Joey Logano, August 2018 Watkins Glen. 1/90 Laps, Crash

Joey Logano started sixth at Watkins Glen International in 2018, but a stack up among the leaders on the second lap saw Logano run into the back of Kyle Larson. The damage broke an oil cooler, and Logano went off-roading before making it to pit road (the damage is also visible in the video).

The team attempted to pull the car behind the wall to fix the issue, but NASCAR declared him out of the race after one lap via the DVP policy, as the mechanical issue stemmed from contact with another car.

Ross Chastain, April 2018 Bristol. 3/500 Laps, Crash

Michael McDowell spins out in turn 4 in front of the field, collecting nearly a dozen cars. While trying to avoid, Ross Chastain runs into the back of Martin Truex Jr., which causes terminal damage to Chastain’s No. 15 car.

Bubba Wallace, August 2018 Bristol. 3/500 Laps, Crash

Deja vu: A big crash happened once again in the early laps at Bristol, this time with Kyle Busch spinning out in front of the field in turn 4. Nearly a dozen cars were collected once again, and Bubba Wallace was the first retiree after completing just three laps: the same number as Chastain four months prior.

Martin Truex Jr., September 2023 Kansas. 3/268 Laps, Crash

Truex started third at Kansas Speedway last fall, but he immediately fell through the pack with a punctured tire. That punctured tire eventually flattened in the middle of lap 4, sending Truex’s No. 19 car into the outside wall in turn 3 and out of the race.

Kyle Larson, April 2021 Talladega. 3/191 Laps, Engine

In perhaps the most unusual early exit on this list, Kyle Larson lasted three laps at Talladega Superspeedway in April 2021 before the engine on his No. 5 car grenaded. It was soon discovered that the team accidently left a sheet of metal inside the car that they forgot to remove pre-race, which caused the engine to detonate.

Alex Bowman, July 2022 New Hampshire. 4/301 Laps, Crash

Ty Dillon was the inside car of a three-wide battle in turn 1, and he lost the nose of his No. 42 car after a tight squeeze into the correct. He tried to save the car but instead overcorrected right into the turn 2 wall, taking Alex Bowman and two others with him in a hard crash. All four cars were done for the day, and Bowman’s No. 48 had to be towed back to the garage.

Erik Jones, April 2017 Richmond. 4/400 Laps, Crash

While driving Furniture Row Racing in his Cup rookie season, Erik Jones cut a left front tire on lap 5 in his first Cup start at Richmond, which sent his No. 77 car into a hard crash with the turn 3 wall. Jones dropped the window net and climbed out of his totaled car, done for the day.