Denny Hamlin held off a hard-charging Kyle Larson to win his third race of the 2024 NASCAR season at Dover Motor Speedway Sunday, April 28, afternoon.
The win marks Hamlin’s 54th NASCAR Cup Series win, tying him with Lee Petty for 12th on the all-time wins list.
“Man, I love winning,” Hamlin told FOX Sports. “I think the key moment really was Kyle [Larson] did a great job executing on that green flag restart, or the green flag pit cycle. And then we were able to get the lead there on that restart which allowed us, with a caution, to control the restart. So, that was the key moment for us, and it certainly feels good winning here at Dover.”
Hamlin predicted that he would win the Würth 400 a week ago on his podcast, Actions Detrimental.
Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott rounded out the top five, while Noah Gragson, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Daniel Hemric and Ty Gibbs made up the top 10.
Following Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions, most drivers expected to see some of the cars that qualified mid-pack move toward the front under warmer conditions. This would prove to be true with drivers such as Truex, Larson and Elliott quickly gaining positions after the green flag.
Ryan Preece would report smoke in the cockpit of his No. 41 Ford around lap 20. Later in the stage, the smoke would force Preece out of the race. At first, it was believed to be from rubber build up on the exhaust but was then credited to foam in the right-side door.
On lap 37, Todd Gilliland would spin off turn 4, bringing out the first caution for cause.
Truex continued to make his way to the front, passing both Tyler Reddick and William Byron in turn 4 to win the stage under caution.
The caution was for cause, following a spin from Brad Keselowski in turn 2.
Blaney and Larson would make up the rest of the top five, with Hamlin, Busch, Bowman, Elliott, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. completing stage 1’s top 10.
Stage 2 ran caution free with Truex, Larson, and Elliott continuing to run up front. Hamlin and Bowman both joined the leaders with cars showing fast long run speed.
Larson would win stage 2 with Bowman, Hamlin, Truex, and Elliott completing the top five, and Busch, Reddick, Blaney, Stenhouse, and Bubba Wallace making up the top 10.
The final leg of the race looked to be in Hamlin’s control, with the driver of the No. 11 Toyota reaching up to a four second lead at one point. However, in the…
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