Denny Hamlin without fresh air, water inside No. 11 car at Nashville

Denny Hamlin is not comfortable inside the No. 11 Toyota. Hamlin’s air hose, which attaches to the back of his helmet and circulates fresh air, has failed.

In addition, his water system is not working. That’s a bad combination, and it’s Hamlin’s reality for Stage 3 of Sunday’s Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. Hamlin is not happy with his team.

“I’ve lost my fu*king helmet hose. … Fu*king unacceptable,” Hamlin told his team.

With no air, Hamlin is finishing Stage 3 with his visor down. It can’t be a comfortable setup, but you wouldn’t know based on what Hamlin is doing. To this point, he’s led 79 laps and spent most the race inside the top-five.

Denny Hamlin close to capping off solid run at Nashville

While it looks like Ryan Blaney‘s race to lose, Hamlin will certainly take a P3 finish if it holds. Hamlin has finished outside the top-10 in four consecutive races. He needed a run like this to stop the bleeding. Fitting it comes in his 700th NASCAR Cup Series start, just the 22nd driver to reach that mark.

Now, Hamlin will take off to be with his fiancée Jordan Fish. Fish will soon give birth to the couple’s third child and first son. Ryan Truex was the reserve driver in the event Hamlin couldn’t race at Nashville, but it never came to that.

“I can’t miss it,” Hamlin said Saturday. “I certainly got to be there for her and that’s obviously the biggest priority. Just wish she would hang on a little bit longer.”