NASCAR star Denny Hamlin lost his father to a deadly fire in his family home. Here's everything you need to know about his fiancee, Jordan Fish, with whom he has built a family of five.
Renowned NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin’s year is ending with a devastating family tragedy. His father, Dennis Hamlin, succumbed to fatal injuries sustained in a house fire at their family home in Gaston County, North Carolina. His mother, Mary Lou Hamlin, was also present at the site when the fire broke out and was critically injured.
As the racing world rallies around him, the attention has shifted to Denny Hamlin’s fiancée, Jordan Fish, the woman who has stood beside him, weathering all storms together for more than a decade.
Denny Hamlin and Jordan Fish started off 2024 with an engagement announcement on New Year’s Day. The NASCAR star put a ring on Fish, formalising a bond that quietly started away from the spotlight for more than a decade. She has remained a constant presence in Hamlin’s life, seeing his racing career grow and eventually cementing his name as a power player in the sport. Here's everything we know about Jordan Fish.
Jordan Fish was born on October 27, 1987, in Fort Mill, South Carolina, and studied public relations and communications at East Carolina University, graduating in 2011. During her college days, she spent two seasons as an NBA cheerleader for the Charlotte Bobcats, now known as the Charlotte Hornets.
After her cheerleading stint, she moved into business, founding Bambinos, a children’s clothing brand, and later became the CEO of the popular custom handbag company Kustom Klutch. She is also a devout pickleball player, as per a Hollywood Life report.
According to a USA Today report, the couple first met in 2007 during a Charlotte Bobcats game, where Jordan was serving as a cheerleader. During her Lady Cats' sideline performance, her eyes fell on Denny, who was seated courtside. The NASCAR driver later reached out to her, and that was all it took for their relationship to blossom.
On January 20, 2013, Jordan and Denny reached their first crucial milestone as a couple when they welcomed their first daughter, Taylor James Hamlin. They welcomed their second daughter, Molly Gold Hamlin, on August 15, 2017.
Like many couples, their relationship hit a rough patch in 2021 for reasons never disclosed publicly. From what is known, Jordan and Denny had a fallout that briefly led to a separation. Though the NASCAR star never addressed the split, at the time Jordan’s social media was filled with emotional posts in which she called out Hamlin for not changing his ways despite multiple attempts.
Jordan’s posts from that time suggested personal strain, but neither went into detail. Not long after, the two reconciled and rebuilt their relationship in private, and on New Year’s 2024, the couple officially announced their engagement, their gleaming eyes saying it all. Cut to today, they are parents to three children. Hamlin missed a NASCAR race in Mexico City to be present for the birth of their third child, a son, born June 11, 2025, whom they named Jameson Drew Hamlin. The Hamlin kids occasionally make appearances with their mom at Hamlin’s NASCAR races.
Multiple reports state that the fire broke out on Sunday evening, December 28, 2025, at a home on Blacksnake Road near Stanley in Gaston County, North Carolina, where Denny Hamlin’s parents, Dennis, 75, and Mary Lou, 69, lived. Emergency crews were called at about 6:19 p.m. ET on Sunday and found the two-story house largely consumed by flames. More than ten fire departments responded, but the rural area had no fire hydrants, forcing crews to haul water by tanker trucks. This slowed the response, and firefighters needed nearly two hours to contain the blaze fully. The property was reportedly owned by One Real Estate, a company managed by Hamlin himself.
Denny Hamlin’s family home was largely destroyed by the fire, though crews managed to rescue some of his racing memorabilia and several collector cars from the garage. The cause of the blaze has not yet been determined. Investigators are continuing their work and have not released any findings on whether the fire was accidental or the result of foul play that led to the home’s collapse.
When emergency crews reached the severely damaged two-story home, they found Denny Hamlin’s parents outside with catastrophic injuries. Both were rushed to the hospital, where his father, Dennis Hamlin, later died. Hamlin had previously shared that his father was battling a serious illness, which may have worsened his condition during the fire. His mother, Mary Lou Hamlin, was transferred to the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Burn Center in Winston-Salem, where she remains in critical condition under active treatment.
With this terrible loss, Jordan Fish has remained by Denny Hamlin’s supporting him. This unimaginably painful chapter has once again unfolded the story of the NASCAR star’s quiet family.
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