Denny Hamlin held on for victory in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race, fending off teammate Chase Briscoe in double overtime at Dover Motor Speedway.
Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was ahead by an 0.310-second margin at the checkered flag, leading 67 of the 407 laps in Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400. Hamlin’s series-best fourth win of the season was his third at the 1-mile Delaware track and the 58th of his Cup Series career.
MORE: Unofficial results | Best Dover photos
Briscoe ended as the runner-up for the second straight week in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Alex Bowman claimed third place with Kyle Larson fourth and Ty Gibbs completing the top five.
Gibbs and Ty Dillon advanced as the last two drivers still alive in the In-Season Challenge tournament. Gibbs’ top-five day eliminated 12th-place Tyler Reddick, and Dillon (20th) dispatched John Hunter Nemechek — the first driver one lap down — by one spot to reach the final matchup in the contest for the $1 million prize.
Elliott and Bell divided the stage wins, but each driver faced setbacks after taking the green-checkered flag. Elliott started from the pole position and led 171 of the first 184 laps, but dropped four spots after his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet fell off the jack during a green-flag pit stop in the second stage. Bell led 67 laps but lost control of his No. 20 JGR Toyota in a Turn 3 contest for the lead with Elliott, just after the final stage went green.
A caution flag for rain on Lap 338 upended the strategies for several teams, and Hamlin vaulted to the top spot when his No. 11 team opted not to pit under the yellow. Another rain shower with 386 laps complete forced a red flag that lasted 56 minutes, 23 seconds, and the top eight stayed on the track during the pit exchange.
Bell spun while racing Hamlin for the lead with seven laps remaining in regulation, collecting the cars of William Byron and Noah Gragson in his wake. That set up the first of two overtime sessions, where Hamlin held tough against the challenges of his teammates.
Shane van Gisbergen’s two-race win streak ended at Dover, where the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing team was slowed by an unscheduled pit stop on Lap 11 because of a punctured right-front tire. Van Gisbergen — who won the last two weekends at Chicago and Sonoma — finished 3oth in the 37-car field.
The Cup Series resumes next Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400 (2 p.m. ET, TNT Sports, HBO Max, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Five races remain in the regular season before the 16-driver championship-eligible field in the Cup Series Playoffs is decided.
This story will be updated.




