Denny Hamlin Closes Out a Wacky & Wild Weekend with Win at Dover!

DOVER, D.E. – After a hot week out west, the NASCAR Cup Series headed back east, as it took on Dover Motor Speedway, otherwise known as the Monster Mile, for the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400. Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott started on the pole for the race after both qualifying and practice were rained out on Saturday. NASCAR also introduced a brand-new tire package specifically for Dover, which faced the heat this weekend, as the one-mile oval hosted its first mid-summer race since 2020. At the end of it all, Denny Hamlin secured the win!

THE OPENING STAGE:

On the initial start, Elliott got a strong jump into turn one, but was quickly passed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe, who led the first 12 laps of the race. Elliott took the lead back on lap 13 and was on rails as he opened up the gap quickly. NASCAR had a competition caution scheduled on lap 35 to evaluate tire wear. 

Only one driver had issues during the run, as Trackhouse Racing’s Shane Van Gisbergen, who started 4th, came down to pit on lap 10 after falling all the way to last. As it turned out, SVG had a tire puncture on the right front, which he speculated was caused by running over something on the track. When Van Gisbergen returned to the race, he resumed four laps down off the lead. At the caution, Elliott led the way, with Rick Ware Racing’s Cody Ware being the beneficiary of getting the lucky dog to get his lap back.

On the restart, Elliott, who won the race out of the pits, took the outside lane with Briscoe restarting on his inside. Elliott, this time, launched well again, but this time did not have to worry as he got easily clear of the challenge behind. The run to the end of the stage when the race went back green on lap 43 was 78 laps. 

On lap 75, significant progress started to be made in the display of which car was strong and which wasn’t. Ryan Blaney of Penske Racing began making progress as he jumped five spots to 20th, starting his long climb to the front, while Hendrick’s Alex Bowman climbed four positions to 8th, also up eight spots overall after starting the race in 16th. 

On lap 100, Bowman climbed to fifth, passing Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch, who also had a strong car. Teammate Kyle Larson moved to 12th, jumping seven spots, while Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger stayed solid in 10th, also gaining seven spots.

On lap 105, the battle for the lead commenced. As Elliott struggled to lap Trackhouse’s Chase Elliott,  JGR’s Christopher Bell closed to the bumper, showing strong pace. Bell was trapped with Elliott and Suarez side by side, with no true way to make a move.

On lap 113, Bell peaked low on Elliott, but it amounted to nothing, as Elliott passed Suarez, getting clean air on his nose again. Elliott steered clear to the end of the first stage, earning his first stage win of the season! Behind, Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones had a tire puncture, but he was not alone. AJ Allmendinger's right front also unwound, dropping him to 26th but on the lead lap. As for Jones, he lost a lap, placing 33rd. Jones was also unable to get his lap back. 

STAGE TWO:

Chase Elliott won the race off pit road, with his end-of-stage challenger Bell restarting to his inside. Elliott again elected the top lane, firing off clear into turn one. Behind,  23XI’s Bubba Wallace got aggressive, tried to open up the track, and benefited as he gained two spots. 

The battle for Wallace was important as coming into the race with only three points above the playoff cutline, against Roush Fenway Keselowski’s Ryan Preece. On lap 136, Wallace ran 9th, while Preece, who was in the top ten early in stage one, faded to 18th.

Also in the points mix of the cutoff were Preece’s teammate Chris Buescher and Bowman, who had a strong first stage. On lap 160, Bowan ran 5th, while Buescher struggled similarly to Preece and his teammate and owner, Brad Keselowski, running in 20th. 

On lap 165, the frustration for Chase Elliott began again. Daniel Suarez defended his lead lap position, trying to avoid going a lap down. The battle only lasted two laps this time, though, as Elliott finally cleared out of turn two, this time without Bell putting on direct pressure.

On lap 180, the pit stop cycle began, as Front Row Motorsports’ Zane Smith started things off, hitting the pits 60 laps into the green flag run. 

Three laps later, Hendrick’s William Byron and Kyle Larson hit pit road, starting the surplus of cars coming down. A lap later, Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott pit. Unfortunately for Chase, the jack would have an issue on the left side of the car, resulting in a slow stop, losing Elliott the lead. Of the cars on the pit cycle, Elliott came out 5th.  

Bell, who pitted on the same lap as Elliott, however, was not the leader, as his teammate Denny Hamlin was the car that won the battle out of the pit road. On lap 191, both drivers began the battle for the lead, and a lap later, Bell took the lead away from Hamlin. 

At halfway, Bell continued to lead after he lapped Ty Dillon of Kaulig Racing, who was competing in the final four of the In-Season Challenge. Dillon faced Legacy’s John Hunter Nemechek, who ran 28th, behind Ty, who was in 26th. On the side of the bracket, it was Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs who faced 23XI’s Tyler Reddick. At the halfway mark, Gibbs ran 10th, and Reddick 15th. 

On lap 215, Spire Motorsports driver Carson Hocevar came down to the pits as he had an issue, causing him to hit the wall. A lap later, AJ Allmendinger had to hit the pits as he was having trouble with his brakes. Hocevar had a penalty that had derailed his day earlier in the stage, but it was unfortunate for both drivers as they had solid runs until the halfway mark, where things went off the tracks.

Things stayed tame to the end of the stage, with only Daniel Suarez coming down to pit for his service after trying a strategy on lap 231. The stage winner was Christopher Bell, who earned his second stage win of the year, setting things up for the final frame. 

THE FINAL STAGE:

Bell led Chase Elliott, who gained two spots in the pits back to green, with Bowman, who finished 2nd in the stage, and teammate Denny Hamlin behind. Typically, at Dover the history tends to show a battle between Gibbs and Hendrick. As the green flag displayed, the rest of the race was exactly that.

On lap 260, the race went back green, with Bell getting a brief jump, but Elliott contested on his inside. In turn three, Bell got loose, going into a tail slide and a spin, bringing out the caution, the first one for an incident. Bell thankfully did not hit anything, but fell to 22nd, which was the last car on the lead lap. Spire’s Justin Haley got the free pass, putting 23 total cars on the lead lap. 

The race went back green on lap 266, with Elliott restarting on the outside. Similar to restarts prior, he got a great run, while Bowman passed Hamlin for 2nd on the high side down the back stretch. As they ran after the pass, Hendrick as an organization ran 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 7th. 

On lap 285, Chase gapped his lead mightily as he led Denny Hamlin, who passed Bowman for 2nd by 3.3 seconds. Nothing changed much at all, fifteen laps later, with 100 laps to go. Hamlin slowly began to chip away at Elliott as he cut the gap down to 3.6 seconds after being nearly 4.1 seconds behind a few laps earlier. Everything remained traffic-dependent, leading to the final stop of the day. 

On lap 315, Hamlin shrank the lead to 2.3 seconds. Five laps later, it shrank deeper as Elliott's gap cut to 1.8 seconds. 

On lap 324, Chase Briscoe began the pit road strategy with multiple cars following. A lap later, Alex Bowman hit the pits. Then, a lap after that, Hamlin and Elliott pit. Elliott won the race out of the pits, but this handed the lead to Bubba Wallace, who pitted on lap 330. Noah Gragson then briefly had the lead, but he pitted two laps later. So who gambled with nothing to lose? 

Christopher Bell, as he tried to stay out as long as he could, hoping the rain came before he could pit.

On lap 337, Bell got his wish, as the caution came out as rain began to fall softly, but enough to ring out the caution. While the cars paced around, the pits eventually opened as it seemed the rain had passed through. Only six drivers were on the lead lap at the time of the caution. William Byron got the lucky dog, allowing him to get his lap back and also have the opportunity to pit. 

As for the leaders, every car came down to the pit and took service, except for Denny Hamlin, who stayed out to assume the lead. This put the Gibbs teammates on the front row with another shot for Bell.

On lap 344, Hamlin took the green, with him clearing Bell easily into turn 1. Austin Dillon didn't fire off well, but rebounded back to 4th with a good set of corners.  With 50 laps to go, Hamlin led Bell by .497.

With 35 laps to go, Bell got to the bumper of Hamlin attempting to pass for the lead. Rain yet again was closing in, in the distance, but the battle intensified on, with the drivers not knowing when the race's end would be. Rather, if it was the final lap, or as a result of Mother Nature. 

On lap 378, the gap closed down to a four-car race. Chase Elliott cut the gap down to 1.36 seconds, and teammate Kyle Larson cut it down to 1.53. Bell remained .362 behind Hamlin, but needed an opportunity to make the pass. 

The race changed mightily, as with 17 laps to go, Ross Chastain went crashing out of turn two, bringing out the caution. Teams were tied up with options. Do they pit, do they stay out? Teams had to wait for Chastain's car to be moved, but pit road never opened. The rain began pouring in turn two, ending the race. With less than 15 laps to go, NASCAR had no benefit of continuing the race as they brought the cars down pit road on lap 386.

But to everyone's surprise, the race did not end there. After a 56-minute and 23-second red flag, the race went back green for an 8-lap shootout.  First, the race-changing scenario. All of the cars in the entire top 5 had opted to stay out, while Chase Briscoe, Ty Gibbs, and multiple other drivers opted to come down and pit, and take two tires.  

Hamlin restarted with the lead with Bell to his inside. On lap 393, just four corners after the restart, the door opened to chaos. Bell got loose under Hamlin out of turn four, going into a tail slide and a spin for the second time on the day. Bell was on the cusp of making a Jimmie Johnson-esque save, but unfortunately ran out of luck, as behind William Byron and Noah Gragson piled into the crash, ending both of their days. 

This crash was brutal, especially for Byron, who came into the race with the points lead and had looked to maintain it after running top five all day. Instead, he exited Dover minus sixteen points to teammate Chase Elliott for the regular season title. 

Through the crash, tires jumped quickly as Chase Briscoe climbed all the way to 4th position. 

Then the following restart was shocking, as Chase Elliott, who was in the 3rd position, gave up the preferred restart lane of the top to Briscoe, putting him behind his teammate and control car of Denny Hamlin. 

On the first green white checkered, Briscoe shot out quickly behind Hamlin, while Elliott faded outside of the top five. However, another crash in the midfield led to another attempt at a green-white-checkered.

On the restart on lap 406, Briscoe on the inside fought hard, as he nearly cleared on the exit of turn two. Both teammates raced hard side by side, but to everyone’s surprise, Hamlin cleared Briscoe on the exit of turn two and had a clean final set of corners to secure his fourth victory of the season. 

Behind, the final matchup for the million-dollar In-Season Challenge was revealed. With his fifth-place finish, Ty Gibbs advanced to the championship round over Tyler Reddick, who finished 12th. On the final caution, the battle for the other transfer position was finalized, as Ty Dillon earned the right to get his lap back over John Hunter Nemechek. Dillon finished 20th, to Nemechek’s 21st, keeping the Cinderella story alive.

After the race, Coach Joe Gibbs gave his thoughts on his grandson's accomplishment, saying, “Those guys did a great job today and they have been there through the first part of the year. When nothing went right, there was nothing went our way. And so you appreciate those guys just kept fighting. I appreciate that. And so for us to get to this point, we still got a long ways to go because we're got a win to probably get in the chase. But it was a huge deal today and they fought their guts out at the end.”

As for the winner, Denny Hamlin, he too was happy with his win, and he spoke in agreement with NASCAR, after a controversial decision to have the cars sit on the apron after the red flag was lifted, to dry off pit road. NASCAR still displayed the yellow, and it wasn’t fully clear when all drivers became aware of the situation.

Hamlin said, “They didn't want to run off caution laps, which is very understandable. I mean they we had fans out here were obviously very enthusiastic when they saw the sun come out, which I love that enthusiasm from from our fan base they wanted to give them… And so we knew and they told us beforehand before we even got in the cars that that here's the process we're going to get in, we're going to pull out.”

Despite everything going on for Hamlin behind the scenes with the current lawsuit situation with 23XI, it is clear that it won't slow down Hamlin, who is seeking his first-ever NASCAR Cup Series Championship.

UP NEXT: 

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Yard of Bricks next week, as they take on the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This is the second consecutive year that the cars will race on the oval, since the configurations returned to the Cup Series. Coverage can be found on TNT, Sunday, July 27, at 2:00 PM ET. Additionally, the Craftsman Truck Series returns after nearly a month off in action. They will race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday, July 25, at 8:00 PM ET. That race can be found on Fox Sports 1. Then on Saturday, the NASCAR Xfinity Series will also run the Indianapolis oval configuration on Saturday, July 26, at 4:30 PM ET. The coverage of the Xfinity race can be found on the CW.