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Denny Hamlin showcased a dominant display at the Dover Motor Speedway and sealed his third Cup Series win of the 2024 season. The Lap 259 restart and the subsequent chaos helped the Joe Gibbs Racing driver retain his dominant run on the Monster Mile.
After dethroning Kyle Larson from a potential victory, Hamlin now has three wins, three top-5s, and four top-10s in the bag. The JGR driver is placed at P4 in the standings, and is shy of 49 points against the leader Larson.
Witnessing the #11 Toyota driver exercise his supremacy for 136 laps during the Würth 400 run, team owner, Joe Gibbs was all praise for Hamlin. Shortly after the 400-lap dash got done and dusted, Gibbs acclaimed the Florida native’s “great things,” saying (via SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on X) [0.47]:
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“Everything we put him [Denny Hamlin} in, he did great. I gotta tell you, where Denny is right now in his life, he's doing some great things. He's coming back from some racetracks that gave him trouble like road racing and now he's at the front of the field. This boy in his career, I think he's doing some things that are really special."
Denny Hamlin uncovers how final-stage restart incidents paved the way for his Dover win
Hamlin stood sixth fastest during Saturday's qualifying run, clocking the best speed of 160.371 mph, and was 0.252 behind the polesitter, Kyle Busch. Moreover, Stage 1 witnessed the #11 Toyota finish sixth, while in the second stage, it came third.
Nonetheless, shortly after Stage 2 got wrapped up under Kyle Larson's name, the HMS driver and Denny Hamlin pitted for a fresh set of rubber but the JGR driver's pit crew's faster job ended up placing him in P1. Furthermore, post the Lap 259 restart, Hamlin led the majority of the race, clinching his 54th win and leveling with legendary driver Lee Petty. Both stand at 12th in the Cup wins standings.
Post emerging victorious for the second time at the Monster Mile, the 43-year-old highlighted how caution played a key role in dominating the restarts, saying (via FOX: NASCAR on X):
"I think the key moment really was Kyle [Larson] did a great job executing the green flag pit cycle and then we ran and then we the lead there on the restart, which allowed us, with a caution, to control the restarts."
