Hamlin fends off Larson for NASCAR Cup win at Dover

Hamlin, who led all but 11 of the final 147 laps, got beat by Larson on pit road on their final green flag pit stop but reclaimed it on the ensuing restart.

Larson was able to cut Hamlin’s lead to under a second with 40 of 400 laps to go, fell back a pit and put on one final charge over the last 10 laps before Hamlin held him off by 0.256 seconds to earn his third win of the 2024 season.

“I think the key moment really was Kyle did a great job executing on that green flag pit stop. Then we were able to get the lead on the restart, which allowed us with a caution to control the restart,” Hamlin said. “That was the key moment for us. Man, certainly feels good winning here at Dover.”

Asked about tying Lee Petty for 12^th all time in wins, Hamlin said, “It’s fantastic. I couldn’t hold Lee Petty’s helmet. I’ve been blessed with a great race team. This whole team, everyone that supports this No. 11 car, they’re the ones that make it happen. I’m the lucky one that gets to drive it.”

All three of Hamlin’s top five finishes this season have resulted in wins. His victory – coming off back-to-back finishes of 30th or worse – is the 54th of his career, leaving him tied with Hall of Famer Lee Petty for 12th all time.

Despite damage to his front splitter Martin Truex Jr. ended up third, pole winner Kyle Busch was fourth and Chase Elliott rounded out the top five.

Completing the top 10 were Noah Gragson, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Daniel Hemric and Ty Gibbs.

Stage 1

Truex claimed the Stage 1 win under caution over William Byron when Brad Keselowski had a tire go down and spun with two laps remaining. Tyler Reddick was third, Blaney fourth and Larson rounded out the top five.

Stage 2

Larson came out the leader from a round of green flag pit stops and held off Bowman by 0.870 seconds to take the Stage 2 win. Hamlin was third, Truex fourth and Elliott ended up fifth.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead lap cars all elected to pit with Hamlin first off pit road. Hamlin led Larson and Bowman when the race resumed on lap 259.

Truex was the first of the lead lap cars to hit pit road with 84 laps to go to kick off a final round of pit stops to take on new tires and fuel to make it to the end of the race.

Larson beat Hamlin off pit road while the two both made their top on the same lap just before Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wrecked to bring out a caution…