NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin's mother makes heartbreaking plea to county officials after deadly house fire

The mother of NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin made an emotional plea this week for increased fire department funding before Gaston County officials after she nearly lost her life in a North Carolina blaze that killed her husband in December.

Mary Lou Hamlin, 69, delivered a heartbreaking account of the Dec. 28 house fire that killed her husband, 75-year-old Dennis Hamlin, and reduced the family home to ruins.

"I’m sorry, I was trying not to cry," a tearful Mary Lou Hamlin said as she spoke...