Older Tires Carry Hamlin Through Double OT To Dover Win

Denny Hamlin celebrates with a burnout Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway. (Wyatt Tinsley/Motorsports Hotspot photo)

DOVER, Del. – Neither Miles the Monster, a late rain delay, nor a charging Chase Briscoe could shake Denny Hamlin Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway, as he held the field at bay on two overtime restarts to win the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400.

Hamlin ran up front all day, but didn’t take the lead until 60 laps to go in regulation due to a green-flag pit cycle and subsequent caution for a passing shower, the first of two slowdowns for weather in the closing stages.

He led every remaining lap from there, even after an hour-long delay with 14 laps left, to pick up his fourth win of the NASCAR Cup Series season. It’s his third career win at Dover and second in a row at the concrete mile.

With track position proving crucial all day, Hamlin posted an impressive average running position of fourth. He benefited from the timing of the first rain shower, stayed out on older tires to assume the lead, and never looked back after that.

Hamlin’s Dover hat trick comes after struggling at the ‘Monster Mile’ for the first half of his 20-year career.

“I just studied some of the greats here,” said Hamlin, who last pitted at lap 326, of how he’s improved his Dover performance. “I was very fortunate to have Martin Truex [Jr.] as a teammate. Jimmie Johnson, watching him win 10 times here … when you learn from the greats and you change your game to match it, you eventually have success like this.

“Things were going pretty well before the rain. Then [we] obviously had to endure a few restarts there,” he added. “It was tough. Those guys gave me a run for it, no doubt about it. This whole Progressive Toyota team did amazing. But it was good, hard racing. Ultimately, I got the better end of all the restarts in the end, but it was a tough battle.”

Chase Elliott was awarded the pole after qualifying was rained out Saturday, but lost the lead immediately to Briscoe, before taking it back 13 laps later.

Elliott then led 171 consecutive laps – and 238 altogether as the dominant car of the afternoon – but a miscue on pit road trapped him in traffic because his Chevrolet fell off the jack during a lap-185 stop.

Hamlin’s teammate Christopher Bell took the lead via that pit stop cycle, jumping Elliott and Hamlin, but spun from the lead on lap 260 when the final stage got underway and handed the lead back to the No. 9.

Elliott led until the final full pit cycle, when Bell stayed out long in an effort to make up ground from his spin earlier on. That gamble paid off when sprinkles forced the fifth caution of the day on lap 337.

Hamlin stayed out at that point and never trailed again, despite the chaos of a 56-minute stoppage for heavy rain and back-to-back restart crashes late that led to the double-overtime finish.

Not even Briscoe, who had pitted again for better tires after the red flag was lifted, could stop Hamlin from leaving the ‘Monster Mile’ victorious.

Briscoe wound up second in the race, which was extended by seven laps due to the extra periods. He was spurred on by an impressive strategy call from crew chief James Small to take tires after the rain delay, which gave his car the speed he needed to cut back through the top 10 in the closing laps.

The driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry lined up alongside teammate Hamlin for the restart, but was unable to make the move to get by, and settled for second.

“I thought I did everything I needed to. I thought I had him there for a second,” Briscoe admitted. “I wish the Camry, the back, was about three inches shorter. I was so close to clearing him. I just couldn’t do it.

“Obviously, racing a teammate, I wanted to make sure at least a JGR car won. But it was honestly a great day. We probably weren’t a second-place race car; we were a fifth to 10th [place] car. So I’m glad we were able to kind of make a good finish out of it. Would have loved to get our Bass Pro Shops Toyota in Victory Lane. Like I said, I thought we were close.

“I was two or three inches short of clearing him. Denny did a really good job, they were good all day. … But it is so fun going to the racetrack every week on Sunday and having shots to win races.”

An impressive run for Alex Bowman ended in third, giving him needed points towards the playoff cut-line battle. Kyle Larson came home fourth after starting all the way back in 25th.

Ty Gibbs won his in-season tournament matchup against Tyler Reddick by finishing fifth, and Elliott finished sixth after leading his most laps in a single race in the Next-Gen era.

Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, and Brad Keselowski all had quiet days, but avoided the late chaos en route to positions seven through 10, respectively.

Bell had a lot of speed, and showed that by leading 67 laps, but two spins – the second one coming on the first overtime restart while underneath Hamlin – knocked him out of contention for a decent finish, and he came home 18th.

Ty Dillon topped his in-season tournament matchup over John Hunter Nemechek by one position, after he received the free pass on the final caution.

He faces off against Gibbs for the million-dollar tournament prize next week at Indianapolis (Ind.) Motor Speedway, one of the most historic and prestigious venues in sports.

Broadcast coverage of the Brickyard 400 presented by PPG airs Sunday, July 27 at 2 p.m. ET, live on TNT Sports, the IMS Radio Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.