Why Hamlin had to catch his breath after a 700th NASCAR Cup race

Denny Hamlin has now matched NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon for the best finish ever by a Cup driver making their 700th career start, placing third at Nashville. He is just the 22nd driver to ever reach that impressive milestone.

It was not easy for Hamlin, and not just because of how difficult it was to pass at the concrete oval. The air hose going to his helmet was not functioning as it became disconnected, so it got extremely hot inside the cockpit of that No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

"It was hot," said Hamlin after the race. "I don't run a cool shirt or anything like that, so that's three elements that the other drivers had that I didn't have. So yeah, I got hot."

Hamlin was running with the visor up just to get some fresh air in his face as he tried to chase down Carson Hocevar and eventual race winner Ryan Blaney.

"Our best strategy at that point was to go long, and you either catch a caution or another caution comes," explained Hamlin. "We all were going to stay out so the lap times don't fall off, and then we got fresher tires. We got jumped by the #77 [Hocevar] and then the track just went through a really weird phase there the last 30 laps where everyone had to pin to the bottom. I think there was not enough cars running in the middle, and it threw dust up in that middle and top lane so it was not an option. It was like ice up there. That definitely hurt the passing."

There was also the possibility that Hamlin wasn't even going to race today as he and partner Jordan Fish are expecting the birth of their third child and first boy at any moment. Luckily for him, he was able to run the race to completion, winning Stage 1 and led 79 laps in total.