Denny Hamlin all set to pay tribute to Roy Hendrick at Darlington

Denny Hamlin will pay homage to late model racer Roy Hendrick at Darlington Raceway. The Joe Gibbs Racing’s #11 Toyota Camry will don the ‘Flying 11’ paint scheme to honor the 14x NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Division race winner’s legacy.

The Cook Out Southern 500 will mark the regular season finale race. Tyler Reddick will look to defend his top spot in the rankings and claim his maiden regular season title. Kyle Larson will enter Darlington as the defending winner. Placed second, the Hendrick Motorsports driver is the regular season title contender and 17 points behind Reddick.

Ahead of the final crown jewel race on the 2024 calendar, Hamlin will pay tribute to Roy Hendrick. The son of legendary racer Ray Hendrick and uncle to Rick Hendrick, Roy etched his name among the dominant late-model racers. He won South Boston Speedway's inaugural NASCAR Late Model race in 1983 and clinched South Boston's first Late Model Division championship.

Sharing the 'Flying 11' paint scheme on X (formerly Twitter), Joe Gibbs Racing's release said:

"𝙁𝙇𝙔𝙄𝙉𝙂 11. The No. 11 @SportClips Toyota will feature the Flying 11 this weekend to pay homage to the late Roy Hendrick (top). Hendrick was a weekly competitor at Denny Hamlin’s home track, Southside Speedway. The No. 11 Sport Clips team previously honored the Hendrick family, including Roy’s father, Ray Hendrick, by carrying the Flying 11 colors to victory lane in the 2017 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (bottom)."

Roy Hendrick passed away recently at 70. He secured his 14th Late Model win at the South Boston Speedway in 1991.

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When Denny Hamlin aced the 2017 Southern 500 with Ray Hendrick’s ‘Flying 11’ paint scheme

The 2017 Bojangles’ Southern 500 was the 25th regular season race and Lap 313 of 367 witnessed a big mistake by Denny Hamlin. The #11 JGR driver missed the pit entry and returned two laps later. As a result, his track position dropped and he exited the pits in 14th place.

Hamlin's teammate, Martin Truex Jr. became the race leader and gunned for the victory. However, things took a turn during the closing laps. With 10-lap-younger compounds than Truex Jr.'s #19 Toyota, Hamlin began closing in. Moreover, with just two laps to go, MTJ's tire gave up, sending his Toyota into the wall. The #11 Toyota driver capitalized on the opportunity and secured the race win while his teammate finished eighth.

After triumphing in the 365-lap dash, the race winner paid tribute to Ray Hendrick's 'Flying 11' paint scheme. The latter has amassed over 700 victories in modified racing and is renowned in the motorsports fraternity as 'Mr. Modified."

“That’s as hard as I can drive. What can I say — it’s the ‘Flying 11.’ It means everything to me. I mean, as far as I’m concerned, this is a throwback to my history – this is for Ray Hendrick, Bugs Hairfield, Wayne Patterson, Eddie Johnson, the short track guys that I grew up watching," Denny Hamlin said via NASCAR.

Hamlin’s race-winning #11 Toyota decals mirrored Ray’s modified stock car from the 1960s and 1970s.