Dover Motor Speedway

Denny Hamlin essentially called his shot this week, saying on his popular weekly podcast that he absolutely expected to win Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Wurth 400 at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway. And the veteran backed it up – holding off championship leader Kyle Larson by a slight .256-second to claim his third win of the season and 54th of his career – tying the legend Lee Petty on the all-time wins list.

Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota took the lead from Larson during a late race pit stop cycle, beating him off pit road then leading the final 72 laps. He got the jump on Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on both of the final two restarts then managed an advantage that was more than 2-seconds at one point with Larson closing on him.

Larson got within two-tenths of a second of Hamlin as they negotiated traffic on the famous one-mile Dover track in the closing laps but was unable to get close enough to attempt a pass.

“You’d better win, if you’re going to open your mouth, that’s for sure,” Hamlin said of his bold prediction to win.

Hamlin, 43, immediately gave credit to his No. 11 JGR team.

“Just a great team, they just did a great job,” said Hamlin, who led a race best 136 of the 400 laps.

“All the guys on the wall right here, they made it happen,” he said motioning to his cheering team on pit wall. Thank you to them and to [crew chief] Chris Gabehart. The whole team just gave me a great car.

“I think the key moment, really was Kyle did an excellent job executing during the green flag pit cycle ad then we were able to get the lead there on that restart, then got the caution that allowed us to control the restart. That was really the key moment for us and certainly feels good winning here at Dover.”

Larson was understandably disappointed standing next to his car after the race and explained that contact between his car and the No. 19 car on a late race restart hurt his chances of being able to get going properly and challenge Hamlin.

“I knew when I got within three car-lengths, he was going to start moving around,” said Larson, who led 39 laps. “I couldn’t really do anything. I was trying all sorts of different angles and speeds, all that. Nothing could generate enough speed to get close enough I guess, to do anything. That was a bummer.

“A great day for our HendrickCars.com Chevy team. Started 21st, drove up to sixth in the first stage or fifth. Got a stage win. Another stage win sounds good. Good points day. We would have loved to get a win.”

It was actually Hamlin’s JGR teammate Truex – the defending race winner – who looked strongest in the field early on. He led 69 laps and won the opening stage, only to lose ground on a slow pit stop mid-race. His Toyota suffered some frontend damage from the restart incident that Larson referred to, but Truex held ground all day to finish third. He remains in second place in the championship standings, 15 points behind Larson.

“Feel like we let one get away today,” Truex said. “Had a really strong Bass Pro Camry. You can’t lose control of these races mid-stage like that. The track changes and you get behind. Man, just stinks. Overall, a good day, just keep working on it.”

Dover polesitter Kyle Busch finished fourth in the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet and Hendrick’s Chase Elliott was fifth.

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Noah Gragson – coming off his best career finish (third) last week at Talladega, Ala. – finished sixth, his fourth top-10 of the year. Reigning champion, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney was seventh followed by Hendrick’s Alex Bowman, Kaulig Racing’s Daniel Hemric and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs. It marked the second consecutive top-10 for Hemric, equaling his best result of the year.

It was a rough outing for the series’ other three-race winners this season, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron. The perennial race favorite was involved in a three-car accident with 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace and JGR’s Christopher Bell with 71 laps remaining. It marked the first DNF for Byron this season and the second consecutive DNF for both Wallace and Bell. Byron had an issue during a pit stop that left him mid-pack and that’s exactly where the incident happened.

“Just sucks,” Byron told the Performance Racing Network. “We had a good car early, but once we got in traffic, we were terrible.”

Also of note, Corey Heim finished 25th in his NASCAR Cup Series debut. The 21-year old substituted for the injured Erik Jones in the Legacy Motor Club No. 43 Toyota. His team co-owner, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson finished 28th in his third start of the season.

You could say NASCAR's stop at Dover (De.) Motor Speedway was "All in the Family;” a kin-to-win kind of weekend. Martin Truex Jr. answered his younger brother Ryan's NASCAR Xfinity Series victory on Saturday with a win in Monday's rain-delayed Wurth 400 NASCAR Cup Series race – the fourth win of his career at the one-mile oval he considers his "home track"

Truex, who started 17^thin the 36-car field after qualifying was cancelled due to weather, methodically worked his way forward in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. The 42-year-old New Jersey native finally took the lead for the first time with 69 laps remaining and led all but one of those final laps to claim his first points-paying victory of the season, ending a 54-race winless streak.

He and his JGR pit crew ultimately had to earn the win with pit strategy and pit execution. On a pit stop during the race's final caution period, Truex's team opted to put only right-side tires on his Toyota. With the quick stop, he was able to beat the field back out to the track and then on the ensuing re-start – with seven laps to go – hold off a hard-charging Ross Chastain, whose No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet had taken four fresh tires on the stop.

"It feels incredible," Truex said. "I feel like we've been close a bunch of times, that's for sure. Felt today, with that caution, what's going to happen here and then good call by [crew chief] James [Small] to take two (tires) and then I was able to get a pretty good re-start.

"Just thanks to everybody that stuck with me. … we knew we could do this. We've shown we can lead laps and have dominated races and it just never all came together. I've said we just had to keep doing what we were doing and not overthink it."

Chastain, who took his fourth stage win of the season, finished a slight .505-seconds behind Truex but was unable to make up any real ground on the leader in the closing laps after passing Ryan Blaney, who also took only two tires on that final stop.

"Gosh, so close again," said Chastain, who led 98 laps. "It's surreal to continue to race against my all-time heroes."

Penske Racing's Blaney finished third – his sixth Top-10 of the season and second Top-3 in the last two races. Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron led a race best 193 laps and won a series best sixth stage, to finish fourth. It marks the second time he's led the most laps in a race this year but not claimed the victory.

Truex's JGR teammates Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell finished fifth and sixth.

Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher and Josh Berry rounded out the Top-10. Berry was driving the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for Alex Bowman, who suffered a back injury racing sprint cars last Tuesday.

It marks the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion Truex's 32ndcareer win and first since a victory at Richmond, Va. on Sept. 11, 2021. Snapping the streak and sharing Dover's Victory Circle with his younger brother, Ryan, truly made the week for the veteran.

"It's just special, you know," Truex said. "This is a special place. Good day for my family and to see Ryan win Saturday he's worked so hard for so long to get good opportunities and it's awesome.

"And then for us, we've given away a few here over the years so it's nice to see it come around our way. Just excited and had a hot rod. Just needed to get it out front"

NASCAR Cup Series standings leader Chase Elliott earned his first victory of the season in Monday’s weather-delayed DuraMAX Drydene 400 at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway.

Elliott led the final 53 laps of the 400-lapper and pulled away from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for a 2.577-second victory in an action-packed race that was slowed 12 times for caution periods – including a red flag weather delay on Sunday that necessitated pushing the restart to Monday.

It’s the 14^th career win for the driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and a historic fifth win for the team in 2022. It is the first time in NASCAR history a team has had all four of its drivers win races in the opening 11 races of a season.

The 26-year old Georgia-native Elliott had to work at this one for sure with 17 lead changes among 10 drivers.

“Just had some good circumstances finally” the sport’s reigning Most Popular Driver said of his first oval track win since he won the 2020 series championship at Phoenix Raceway. “Just really appreciate [crew chief] Alan [Gustafson] and our entire team for just sticking with it.

“We had some tough races over the last four or five months and just great to get NAPA back to victory lane and great to get Hendrick Motorsports in victory lane. So proud. This means a lot in a lot of different ways. Just appreciate all the effort.’’

“It’s been a fun day and we’re certainly going to enjoy this,’’ Elliott continued, after thanking the fans that came out for the Monday race conclusion.

“Like I told them [crew] after the race, those guys, they’ve been deserving of one for a while so glad we could get across the line first. We’ll enjoy it for a few days and then go to work next week.’’

He came a few car lengths from victory, but runner-up Stenhouse was nearly as happy as the winner after the race. It marked only the second top-10 of the season – second top-20 – for the driver of the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet and was his best showing since a runner-up finish on the Bristol (Tenn.) Dirt Track back in March, 2021.

Stenhouse finished fifth in Stage 2 and ran among the top-10 for the last 150 laps of the race moving into second place behind Elliott with 51 laps remaining and chasing down Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet for the remainder of the race.

Last week’s race winner Ross Chastain finished third in the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet but had some contact with three-time Dover winner Martin Truex Jr. on the final lap fighting for position. The two touched and Truex’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota spun around. He recovered to finish 12^th and the two drivers exchanged words afterward on pit lane.

Asked about the last lap incident and the encounter after the checkered flag with Truex, Chastain smiled and said “we were talking about where we were going fishing next week.’’

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell was fourth followed by 2021 Dover winner, Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman. His teammate, Kyle Larson was sixth followed by JGR driver Kyle Busch, who led the most laps (103) on the day and was a strong contender for the trophy before getting caught on pit road during a caution period.

Busch and Bowman – who were running first and second at the time – pit on lap 322 only to have a caution come out for A.J. Allmendinger, whose Chevy lost its wheel. The two drivers restarted toward the tail end of the lead lap and still managed to race their forward to the top-10 finishes.

Dover polesitter Chris Buescher finished eighth – his third top-10 showing in the Roush Fenway Keselowski Ford on the year and first in six races. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick and Petty GMS Motorsports driver Erik Jones rounded out the top-10.

It was rough day for former Dover winner Denny Hamlin, who led 67 laps and won Stage 1, but had two major snafus derail what looked like a promising day.

While leading the race, Hamlin’s left front tire came off as he exited pit road following a stop. It set him to 29^th place. He drove his JGR No. 11 Toyota all the way back into the top-five only to be collected by a spinning Ford driven by Cody Ware just after the race’s midpoint.

The damage to Hamlin’s Toyota took away any shot for the victory and he finished 21^st. The perennial championship contender and three-time Daytona 500 winner has only one top-10 – a win at Richmond last month – on the season.

Say this about Alex Bowman, the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet has got his timing right. The Hendrick Motorsports driver took the lead off pit road following his final pit stop with 97 of 400 race laps remaining, held off the field on two more race restarts and earned his second victory of the year in Sunday's Drydene 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover (Del.) International Speedway.

The win punctuated a historic Hendrick Motorsports day at the famed one-mile track, with the team becoming the third organization in NASCAR Cup Series history to finish 1-2-3-4 in a single event; joining Peter DePaolo Racing (Dec. 30, 1956 at Titusville, April 7, 1957 at North Wilkesboro) and Roush Fenway Racing (Nov. 20, 2005 at Homestead-Miami). Bowman held off his teammate Kyle Larson by 2.017-seconds. Chase Elliott (third) and William Byron (fourth) finished just behind marking the first time in the organization's 267-victory history it's had a four-car sweep atop the scoreboard.

It was actually Larson who paced the field most of the day - leading a race best 263 of the opening 303 laps and sweeping both Stage 1 and Stage 2 victories - his series-best fifth and sixth stage wins of the season. And at one point, Sunday, he led the field by a full eight-seconds.

But Bowman's team turned in the single fastest pit stop of the entire 2021 season during a late race caution period and got the car back on track just in front of Larson. Bowman held off his teammate on the restart and pulled away to a comfortable win.

"You guys won that race not me," Bowman excitedly shouted to his team after taking the checkered flag. "I'm so proud of you."

The No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet had a track record 11 previous victories at Dover - all with driver Jimmie Johnson, who retired from fulltime NASCAR competition at the end of the 2020 season. The 28-year old Tucson native, Bowman, just started piloting the No. 48 this year, winning at Richmond, Va. last month - again turning in a late race rally - leading only the final 10 laps en route to that win.

Certainly, the Hendrick Motorsports organization showed early-on Sunday that it was ready to settle the trophy among its drivers. In all, Bowman, Larson and Byron combined to lead 381 of the 400 laps.

As the laps wound down, television cameras captured team owner Rick Hendrick nervously pacing on pit road, well aware of the significance of his four cars atop the scoring pylon.

"I can guarantee you this is the most nervous I've ever been in a race," a beaming Rick Hendrick said. "Great day for the organization. And Alex, congratulations to him. This is a sign of the guys working together and bringing good stuff to the track.

"I don't think it will hit me until tomorrow that we were able to finish one, two, three, four. That's pretty hard to do, things can happen, pit stops, tires, anything. That's a first and we'll take it. It was a great day for us."

Not only was it a win for Bowman, a seriously strong effort by Larson, but it was also another statement-making day for the 23-year-old William Byron. It marks his 11th straight top-10 finish - making him the youngest in series history to put together a string of excellence like that.

Team Penske's Joey Logano finished fifth, followed by Stewart-Haas Racing's Kevin Harvick (sixth) and Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin (seventh).

Richard Childress Racing's Tyler Reddick turned in his sixth top-10 finish of the season with an eighth-place finish. Daniel Suarez finished ninth - his second top 10 for the new TrackHouse Racing team and Stewart-Haas Racing's Cole Custer earned his second top 10 of the season.

With his work this weekend, Byron moves into second place in the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings - 101 points behind Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin. Three-race winner Martin Truex Jr., who finished 19th, is now third, 102 points behind Hamlin.

The showing at Dover marks the 11th time in 13 races this season that Hendrick Motorsports has had at least two drivers finish in the top-10. Six times now, three of the team's four drivers have earned top-10 finishes in the same race.

"We won Richmond and then had a really rough couple of weeks there," Bowman said. "We went to some really good racetracks for us and struggled. I told the guys last week, ‘we're still the same team that did it at Richmond.' This is another really good place for us.

"I'm just so pumped for [sponsor] Ally. It feels right to put the 48 back in Victory Lane here after how many races that this car has won here."

All three of NASCAR's national series will debut at the Circuit of The Americas next week in Austin, Texas.