RALEIGH, N.C. – Advance Auto Parts, a leading automotive aftermarket parts provider, the official auto parts retailer of NASCAR, and official partners of the NTT IndyCar Series and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is kicking off the summer travel season by offering its Speed Perks loyalty rewards members the chance to win a bucket-list motorsports experience to “Do the Double.”
On May 26, Advance will send one winner and their guest on a free VIP experience to attend the 108th running of the famed Indianapolis 500 before traveling to North Carolina to watch the Coca-Cola 600, one of NASCAR’s crown-jewel events, held at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Fans can enter for their chance to “Do the Double” from May 1-12 at AAPDoTheDouble.com. Race fans can enter up to three times per day during the program.
To be eligible to win, entrants must be members of Advance’s Speed Perks loyalty rewards program. Speed Perks is free to join, and upon signing up, new members will receive $5 off their first in-store or online purchase of $20 or more. Race fans can sign up for Speed Perks at AdvanceAutoParts.com.
For race car drivers, doing the double involves competing in both the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same day. It is one of the most challenging feats for any race car driver to attempt, given the significant differences between open-wheeled IndyCar cars and NASCAR stock cars. In fact, only four drivers have completed the double since 1994.
This includes three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart, who won the 1997 IndyCar title prior to beginning his Hall-of-Fame NASCAR career. Stewart is partnering with Advance on AAPDoTheDouble.com and is the perfect ambassador for the program.
“This is the chance of a lifetime for a fan to also complete the double by having a front-row seat at the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600,” Stewart said. “Advance Auto Parts has put together a fantastic program that is truly unique. Doing the double is history in the making and thanks to Advance, a fan and their guest will get to experience it all in real time. They’ll both be able to say, ‘I was there.’”
Stewart has done the double twice. His first attempt came in 1999 when he became the first driver to complete both races in the same day, finishing ninth and fourth, respectively, in the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600, driving a total of 1,090 miles.
Stewart repeated this feat in 2001 and bettered his mark from 1999. He finished on the lead lap in sixth at the Indianapolis 500 before jetting off to Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600. He improved that finish as well, coming home third in the 600-miler. Stewart completed all 1,100 miles — breaking his own record for most racing miles driven in a single day.
“Historically, doing the double has been a journey reserved for only the world’s most talented and dedicated race car drivers, like Advance brand partner Tony Stewart,” said Junior Word, Advance’s executive vice president, U.S. stores. “Now, one lucky Speed Perks member will have the unique opportunity to ‘get in the driver’s seat’ to experience their own version of the double. Advance is thrilled to work alongside our partners at NASCAR, IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway to give two race fans the memory of a lifetime.”
CONCORD, N.C. — Michael McDowell is ever the optimist, even in the face of adversity. That’s as evident now as any other time in the middle of a six-race skid that has produced four DNFs in the past six races.
Three consecutive early exits have contributed to a 31.2 average finish over the past six weeks, dating back to the March 24 race at Circuit of The Americas.
“Yes! Get you some of that,” McDowell laughed during a Tuesday media availability at the NASCAR Productions Facility after being reminded of the stretch.
A veteran of the sport with 476 Cup starts behind him, McDowell knows the ups and downs of motorsports well. The downs are obvious right now, but context helps: In two of the past three races — at Texas Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, respectively — McDowell was racing for the lead at the time of crashing out, including in the final half-mile on Talladega’s 2.66-mile high banks. The third was a hub failure last weekend at Dover Motor Speedway.
Wrecking from first or second place is typically as effective on the results sheet as wrecking from 31st, but there were positives to take from these scenarios nonetheless.
“No doubt, it’s been a rough few weeks, right?” said McDowell, the 2021 Daytona 500 champion. “Some of them have been my self-inflicted wounds. Some of them have been our self-inflicted wounds from a team and preparation and parts standpoint. Last weekend in Dover, we had a right-front hub break, and that’s a spec part. That’s a sealed part. We just found out today … it only had one race on it, had no damage. It wasn’t out of mileage, so nothing to indicate that we did anything wrong. It was just a failure. And so sometimes you have failures, right? And so it’s just been a rough stretch.”
McDowell has often described himself as analytical and put that analysis to work Tuesday, dissecting why he crashed at Texas — “100% my fault.” With an opportunity to take control of the race at the end of Stage 2, McDowell was racing in the outside lane against Ross Chastain before his No. 34 Ford snapped loose over the Turn 3 bumps and was sent careening rear-first into the SAFER barrier. Then came a long discussion regarding the Talladega finish as he tried to block the advances of Brad Keselowski in the closing moments, how those runs evolved and how the race changed when the outside lane lost momentum.
“If you stay in your mind about it, it can mess you up. But I don’t,” McDowell said. “I mean, if I break it down analytically and I think about it, I can give you good excuses for all of them. Excuses don’t produce results in racing, and we all know that. But having answers is important, if that makes sense. So if you replace that word ‘excuses’ with ‘answers,’ we have an answer to why these things happened. And so we’re not in a panic of, ‘Aw man, we just we don’t have speed or we can’t do that.’ We have speed and we can run in the top 10 and we have the speed to do that. We just have to have everything cleaned up a little bit.”
James Gilbert | Getty Images
That mental clarity and leadership from both McDowell and second-year crew chief Travis Peterson are keeping the team on the right path despite sitting 29th in points with 15 races remaining in the regular season.
“If we can dig ourselves in a hole in four weeks, we can probably dig ourselves out of a hole in five or six — but the hole is getting mighty deep,” McDowell said. “But to be honest with you, that hasn’t been my mindset or our approach all year. Our mindset and approach has been we need to win a race.
“Now, this year is different because I don’t think you have to win a race to make it in, based on how many races Denny’s won and (Kyle) Larson and William (Byron) and those guys are going to win. It seems like we’re not going to have 17 winners this year, so I don’t think you have to (win) from that standpoint. But our mindset has been to try to win races.
“And it’s easy to get double-minded, right? So if you go back and you’re like, ‘Oh, if you just play it safe and you play it safe and you play it safe, we would’ve had a fourth, fourth and fifth. And adding that all up, you’re like, ‘Oh, we could have probably pointed our way in.’ But there’s so many more weeks left where that can go wrong. And there’s only so many opportunities that you have in the Cup Series to win races. And so I think that when you have a shot at winning races, you’ve got to be aggressive and go for it.”
Up next is Kansas Speedway, where the NASCAR Cup Series will hold the AdventHealth 400 on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). McDowell has never scored a top-10 finish there in 25 starts, his best result a 13th-place finish twice (2017 with Leavine Family Racing and in 2021 with FRM). He qualified seventh in last year’s playoff race, but ultimately finished 26th.
Perspective is key, though. And that past experience keeps McDowell’s head up despite whatever the numbers say.
“I’ve been here before and I’ve also been on the flip side of it,” he said. “I’ve been on the flip side where it’s like you’re running 20th all day. Somehow, you steal a top 10 and you’re like, ‘I’m gonna leave as fast as I can before they figure out that we stole this one.’ And then the next week, it’ll happen again and the next week. We’re like, ‘holy cow, we just stole three top 10s!’ And so I’ve been on the other side where it feels like you can’t do anything wrong. And I’ve been on this side where you just can’t put it together for the life of you, right?
“And whether it’s circumstances or failures or whatever it is. … we’ve just got to break the streak.”
NASCAR has reinstated Whelen Modified Tour driver Stephen Kopcik, who was suspended indefinitely Feb. 29.
Kopcik is eligible to resume NASCAR competition immediately and is scheduled to serve as the crew chief for the No. 19 entry this weekend at Monadnock Speedway.
Denny Hamlin’s called-shot win Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway might just be the start of something bigger. Turns out, the driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota may have had some extra incentive when he and crew chief Chris Gabehart established some performance-goal parameters heading into the midpoint of the NASCAR Cup Series’ regular season.
“I mean, Chris Gabehart told me that I needed to win one of the next three weeks to feel good about where we’re at at the All-Star break,” Hamlin told NASCAR.com after his late surge to victory in Sunday’s Würth 400. “And so I told him I’d get it done, if not win all three.”
All three, you say?
Stopping short of elevating Hamlin’s statement into a decisively bold 3-for-3 guarantee, history suggests that the No. 11 team’s aspirations for a trifecta in the weeks ahead aren’t that far-fetched. Hamlin tops the win list among active drivers for the next two tracks — Kansas Speedway, the site of Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio); and Darlington Raceway, where the Goodyear 400 will be held Sunday, May 12 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM). The non-points NASCAR All-Star Race will follow May 19, at which point 13 regular-season events will be complete, with 13 more to go until the playoffs.
Confidence is brimming right now for the No. 11 bunch, but with good reason. Here’s how both of those races stack up — for Hamlin and the rest of the Cup Series field:
KANSAS
Hamlin’s history: The No. 11 team came out ahead in last year’s 400-miler at the Kansas City track, where Hamlin converted a last-lap pass on Kyle Larson with some well-publicized contact between the two. Hamlin is a four-time Kansas winner, and he steams into the Cup Series’ next race with five consecutive top-five results there. He’s finished among the top two his last three times out at the 1.5-mile track.
Top challengers? The most significant threat to Hamlin’s bid at Kansas likely stems from the 23XI Racing team that he co-owns with basketball legend Michael Jordan. The organization has won three of the last four there with three different drivers all flying the No. 45 — Kurt Busch (May 2022), Bubba Wallace (Sept. 2022) and Tyler Reddick (Sept. 2023). Outside of the Toyota camp, Larson looms largest, having led the most laps in both Cup Series races at Kansas last year before settling for top fives.
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
DARLINGTON
Hamlin’s history: Hamlin’s four-win portfolio at the track “Too Tough to Tame” could have easily added a fifth in last September’s playoff opener, where he led 177 of the 367 laps before an extra pit stop for a vibration knocked him from contention. He’s led 100-plus laps six times in his Cup Series career at Darlington, where he has also registered six victories in the Xfinity Series.
Top challengers? William Byron, the Cup Series’ other three-time winner this year, is likely to contest for the Darlington laurels as the defending race winner, but also as the top points-earner there since the Next Gen stock car debuted in 2022. Other probable standouts include Larson — the most recent victor at the 1.366-mile oval — and JGR’s Martin Truex Jr., a two-time Darlington winner who has led laps in seven of his last eight starts there.
DOVER, Del. — The circuits were waning, and Kyle Larson was gaining. During the final laps of Sunday’s Würth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway, Larson closed the gaps between his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Hamlin’s already-thin 0.60-plus second lead over the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion with approximately 20 laps to go quickly diminished to an even thinner 0.347 seconds with 11 laps remaining.
The picture between the pair has played out in a similar fashion numerous times. And who could expect anything less? One former champion (Larson) vs. a driver with Hall of Fame-caliber credentials fighting for his first championship (Hamlin). Title-winning moves are made during the regular season, so they say, and both drivers were looking to cast one of those stones at the famed Monster Mile.
And during a campaign when both drivers will fight tooth and nail for the coveted Bill France Cup, the Delaware round went to Hamlin, who outlasted Larson by 0.256 seconds to claim his third Cup triumph of the season.
“It’s very satisfying because I was really looking forward to Texas (Motor Speedway),” Hamlin said. “When Kyle Larson was dominating the first half, I knew what kind of car I was going to have in the second half. He had a wheel problem. Man, I can’t race him straight up. We’ve had a lot of late-race battles. So, to get the better end of it certainly feels good on my end. I mean, he’s one of the best. The record proves it. The amount of wins he’s got since being over there, it speaks for itself. I mean, as old as I am, I’m just happy I can keep up at this point. But then to be a challenger to those guys who are half my age, it’s fun.”
With both drivers combining for three wins, six top fives, seven top 10s and 930 laps led this year heading into Dover, early indications were that both would — more than likely — be in contention once again entering the race weekend. And while Larson started Sunday’s race in 21st compared to Hamlin’s sixth, there was no denying the No. 5’s capabilities to quickly work back to the field’s front.
And that’s exactly what happened. Stage 1 concluded with Larson and Hamlin finishing fifth and sixth, respectively, with the former also being the first of the pair to lead laps, spanning from Lap 219 to Lap 253, attributing to a Stage 2 win (Hamlin finished third). Hamlin was next to draw blood, with a savvy three-wide sandwich with Larson and Alex Bowman culminating with a victory off pit road to begin the race’s final stage. And while Larson briefly reclaimed the lead on Lap 325, Hamlin’s speed proved to be electric enough to pull ahead once again.
Chris Gabehart, crew chief for the No. 11, understood the complete effort it took from the entire No. 11 team to overcome Larson and, perhaps equally as important, to help rebound from two consecutive finishes outside the top 30, spanning from Texas (30th) and Talladega Superspeedway (37th).
“In today’s NASCAR racing, to win a race at the Cup level, you have to have it all,” Gabehart said. “You have to have it all, nearly every lap of it. There’s no other form of motorsports where it’s this tight, where you literally have to have it all and then some, a little bit of fortune to go along with it. Texas we had multiple chances to win the race, didn’t get that fortune, cautions didn’t go our way.
“This team definitely has all the makings of it. Denny is doing a phenomenal job as a driver. The car, the new Toyota Camry’s really given us a lot to work with. Everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing is really pulling the rope and excited to win races. I just can’t say enough about our pit crew and all the work they’ve went through. Everybody here at the race track with the 11 car, week in and week out, just how much fun we’re having doing this. That’s what it takes. That’s what it takes to win races. Winning races wins championships. Really, that’s all the 11 is focused on, is winning races.”
James Gilbert | Getty Images
Winning races, not to mention football games back in the day, is something Joe Gibbs knows all too well. And to the 83-year-old coach and team owner, the 43-year-old Hamlin has shown a veteran poise that equates to race-winning success.
“I’m really thrilled with where Denny is,” Gibbs said. “Chris, he was talking about it. At this point in his career, for him to be after it the way he is, he’s in there with Chris, he’s in the simulator. He’s improved at a couple places where he felt like he was off. He took it upon himself in road racing. I got to tell you, in pro sports, it’s hard to get it all together. I think this team, the 11 team, with Chris’ leadership, really right now I feel so comfortable going to the race track. That’s hard to get. Just appreciate all of our guys. In this sport, we know it’s all really different. You got to have four teams working together to solve the problems. Then, when you get to the race track, it’s everybody on their own trying to win it.”
Lengthy green-flag runs late in the race were briefly sprinkled with a pair of cautions (with one of them including a JGR teammate in Christopher Bell), but Hamlin never wavered. Neither did Larson. And with an early-season champion-caliber primer between the pair coming down to the wire, it was Hamlin who eventually overcame a surging No. 5 to take the checkered flag.
The confetti flew. The pit crew celebrated. The crowd remained vibrant. But for Hamlin, the victory wasn’t his first rodeo — his Dover victory netted him his 54th in the Cup Series, which tied him with Lee Petty for 12th all-time.
Hamlin understands his pedigree, and he more than knows the significance of “pushing to the absolute edge” in order to optimize his shot at winning against a championship competitor willing to put it all on the line to win. As a four-time Championship 4 driver, Hamlin also understands that every chance for a Cup Series crown matters.
But simply winning at its base level matters, too. And Hamlin lets it be known, from his wheeling and dealing on the track to confident chuckling after the fact.
“Listen, I know that I’m a championship-caliber driver. I’ll just say it,” Hamlin said. “I think there’s been worse drivers to win a championship than me. I just feel that way just because of things that have worked out. It’s different. Find one driver saying that championships are the same as they were 10 years ago. It’s just not. I care about wins and winning every single week because, in the end, I absolutely would take 60-some wins and no championship over 20 and one. It’s just not even close. I just think it’s fun to be able to do it. When you can do it against someone that you really consider a big challenger in Kyle Larson — he’s a champion, not a challenger. I’m probably the challenger. I think it certainly helps your ego a little bit. Like I need that.”
Such battles involving Hamlin are bound to continue, and look no further than the upcoming AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway (Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where Hamlin has four career Cup wins and, coincidentally, bumped past one No. 5 driver to tally that most recent win nearly one year ago on the dot.
Hamlin’s championship-style clashes during the regular season will not cease. More stones will be cast. And perhaps more satisfaction will come, too.
Denny Hamlin emerged from a Sunday afternoon of twists and turns at Dover Motor Speedway with his third Cup Series win of the season. He fended off series points leader Kyle Larson down the stretch and kept teammate Martin Truex Jr., last year’s Dover winner, at bay, leaving him third in the final order.
Hamlin now sits tied with Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron for the most Cup Series wins this year. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver also moved into a dead heat with NASCAR Hall of Famer Lee Petty on the all-time win list with his 54th Cup Series triumph.
A handful of hopefuls savored banner days in Sunday’s Würth 400, while other favorites left the Monster Mile with disappointment. Here are six drivers — three each with trends heading in different directions — who experienced big shifts in fortune Sunday at Dover.
THREE UP ⬆️
1. Noah Gragson, No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
Alex Daus | NASCAR.com
Started: 5th
Finished: 6th
What happened: Gragson made the most of his 50th Cup Series start, coming up just one position short of collecting his second consecutive top-five finish. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver didn’t lead laps — as he did in last week’s third-place result, a career-best, at Talladega — but Sunday’s outcome gave him a significant six-spot improvement to 21st in the Cup Series points standings.
What’s next: The Cup Series shifts to Kansas Speedway for next Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM). His last time out at the Kansas City track, Gragson was on the receiving end of a Ross Chastain punch to the face in a post-race confrontation. The rest of his Cup Series portfolio there is less dramatic (an average finish of 21.7 in three starts), but Gragson has Kansas wins in both the Xfinity Series (2022) and the Craftsman Truck Series (2018).
2. Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
James Gilbert | Getty Images
Started: 1st
Finished: 4th
What happened: Busch and the No. 8 group put together one of their most complete race weekends of the season, adding a second top-five finish to match the team’s photo-finish third at Atlanta back in February. Busch came away from Dover with his most laps led in a race this year (34) and his most points earned (42). Like Gragson, Busch savored a six-position jump-up in the Cup Series standings; that increase moved him into 11th place and on steadier ground above the way-early provisional dividing line for the playoffs.
What’s next: The Sunflower State has been a mixed lot for Busch in his Cup Series career, which went 14 Kansas starts before he notched his first top-five finish there. In the time since, he’s posted two victories — including his most recent in 2021. In two starts there with RCR, his best finish is seventh place during last September’s 400-miler.
3. Daniel Hemric, No. 31 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
Logan Riely | Getty Images
Started: 14th
Finished: 9th
What happened: Hemric benefited when a caution flag flew with 79 laps remaining, before the No. 31 Chevy team had made a scheduled green-flag pit stop. That trapped 16 cars that had already pitted a lap down, and each of those teams took the wave-around under yellow and lined up behind sixth-place Hemric and the other front-runners for the restart. From there, the 33-year-old driver held his ground for his second consecutive top-10 finish, equaling his season-best result from a week ago at Talladega.
What’s next: Hemric has only raced twice at Kansas in his Cup Series career, but his most recent start there was a memorable one. Back in 2019 during his stint with Richard Childress Racing, Hemric scored his only Cup Series pole position. More of that solid starting-spot vibes could come in handy next weekend; his average start this season is a suboptimal 28.4.
THREE DOWN ⬇️
1. William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Logan Riely | Getty Images
Started: 3rd
Finished: 33rd
What happened: Byron led 36 laps in the early going and was among the top five well into Stage 2. His Lap 182 pit stop, however, was part of the team’s undoing when the No. 24 Chevy fell off the jack before the left-front tire was fastened. The lengthy stop knocked Byron from second place to 18th after the pit cycle, and that midpack position was where he was running when a final-stage restart went awry. Contact in the melee that also involved Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace handed him his first DNF of the season.
What’s next: Byron dipped two spots in the Cup Series standings, but his stature as a playoff qualifier hasn’t wavered as a three-time winner so far this season. The 26-year-old driver has won at a superspeedway (Daytona), a road course (Circuit of The Americas) and a short track (Martinsville) this year. The only void left to fill is an intermediate-sized track such as Kansas, where he won the pole for last year’s springtime event.
2. Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
James Gilbert | Getty Images
Started: 33rd
Finished: 34th
What happened: An ominous weekend that opened with a crash in Saturday’s practice and a starting spot at the back of the pack ended up no better with a premature exit for Bell at Dover. Bell’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was tangled up in the same Turn 2 fracas that snared Byron, and the team was out 72 laps shy of the full 400-lap distance. Bell, a winner earlier this year at Phoenix, fell four spots to 17th in the Cup Series standings.
What’s next: Bell could use a rebound and some smooth road ahead at Kansas after two consecutive DNFs with crashes at Talladega and Dover. He’s led laps in his last four Kansas starts, a span that includes two pole positions there for his No. 20 group.
3. Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
Logan Riely | Getty Images
Started: 24th
Finished: 30th
What happened: Keselowski was on the Three Up side of this spectrum last week, when he contended for the victory in the final lap at Talladega Superspeedway. This weekend at Dover, the RFK Racing driver and co-owner went for a long spin at the end of Stage 1, then limped his No. 6 Ford to pit road in the 224th lap after slugging the outside wall in Stage 2. It marked Keselowski’s fourth finish of 30th or worse in 11 races this season.
What’s next: Keselowski is a two-time Kansas winner, prevailing there in 2011 and 2019 during his days with Team Penske. His three-year winless drought in the Cup Series now stretches to 109 races, but he ran a promising second place at the circuit’s most recent 1.5-mile track two weeks ago at Texas.
DOVER, Del. — Despite finishing on the third-place end of an electric photo finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February, Kyle Busch looked to be in a momentum-building position to perhaps tally off even more top-flight finishes. The eight subsequent NASCAR Cup Series races for Rowdy and the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team — spanning from Las Vegas Motor Speedway to Talladega Superspeedway — instead saw the group tally only two top 10s and finish outside the top 20 four times.
A fourth-place finish at Dover Motor Speedway in Sunday’s Würth 400, though, might rekindle early-season thrills and perhaps ignite an upswing as Rowdy rumbles forward in his 2024 Cup campaign.
“I felt like today was a good day overall,” Busch said. “There are still things to clean up, but I’m proud of a top-five effort. It felt like if we would have restarted third, I might have been able to keep pace maybe somewhere closer to the front. But starting where I did and having to race the 10 [Noah Gragson] was difficult. I hate it for our guys that we didn’t get a better finish, but the FICO Camaro was good. Just struggled a bit on the long, long run.”
“I think Kyle did a great job today,” Randall Burnett, No. 8 crew chief, told NASCAR.com. “It was a solid day for us. We were up and around the top seven all day long, which was a building block for us. We struggled the last few weeks, so to come out here and sit on the pole and run up in the top seven pretty much all day long and be in contention all day, it was a good day for us, overall.”
Despite opening the Dover race weekend with the 12th-fastest lap time during Friday’s practice session at the Monster Mile, Busch wheeled the No. 8 Chevy to the fastest speed during Saturday’s qualifying run, which netted the 38-year-old Las Vegas native his 34th-career pole and first since World Wide Technology Raceway in June 2023.
Such momentum continued through the opening portions of Sunday’s Delaware bout, with Busch leading 33 total laps and claiming nine combined stage points via his seventh and sixth-place finish in Stages 1 and 2, respectively. However, a Lap 330 wreck re-shuffled the field, with Denny Hamlin inevitably making the most of the circumstance to capture his third Cup win of the season.
Capturing his first Cup win of 2024, to Busch, could have possibly transpired with more speed up front.
“I felt like there, when we came off of pit road in third, if we could’ve maintained third, maybe, kind of, sort of, we might’ve had something for the front to or at least been able to keep pace closer to the front too to see what would’ve happened toward the end of the race, but that wasn’t to be,” Busch said. “We had to come back down and restart eighth and eighth to fourth in that final run right there, so decent day, just obviously, could’ve been one spot better, but still not a win.”
From his perspective atop the pit box, Burnett echoed Busch’s sentiment.
“In order to win these races, you gotta put yourself up in the front, so that’s what we gotta do,” Burnett said. “We got to be running up in the top five and put ourselves in position so we can try to get one of these. We just got to keep doing that week in and week out, more than anything.”
Although he couldn’t triumph in Victory Lane, a fourth-place run provides momentum that perhaps can be translated in the coming weeks.
A straightforward mindset will be critical for Busch and the No. 8 team as they continue to search for win No. 1 this season.
“Everything is week-to-week,” Busch said. “You just gotta keep working at it week-to-week. It can be different every week. I’m sure the 9 [Chase Elliott] didn’t think they were capable or in a position that they were ready for a win yet, and they got one a couple weeks ago, so just keep putting yourselves up front and in position and doing what you need to do for that.”
Following Dover, Busch sits 11th in the points standings, a six-position bump from where he was a week previous. And there’s a possibility for even more ground to be gained, with Busch holding two wins, 10 top fives and 15 top 10s in 32 career starts at Kansas Speedway, the same track the Cup Series tackles next on May 5 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The X factor? Consistency. And after Dover’s finish, so far, so good for Busch as he and his team look to maintain upward momentum.
“We just gotta be consistent,” Burnett said. “We gotta come out here and perform like we did this weekend, bring a fast car, unload fast, qualify well, and qualifying has become such a big deal in these cars because it just sets up your whole weekend, so that’s one thing we gotta do better is we gotta qualify up the top five consistently and put ourselves in position to get stage points and position run up front all day.”
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 Würth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway. And the veteran backed it up — holding off championship leader Kyle Larson by a slight 0.256 seconds to claim his third win of the season and 54th of his career — tying the legend Lee Petty for 12th on the all-time wins list.
Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was scored ahead of Larson when the caution flag flew for a late-race crash on a restart, and he led the final 72 laps. He also got the jump on Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on the final restart on Lap 339 of 400, then managed an advantage that was more than two seconds at one point with Larson closing on him.
Larson got as close as two-tenths of a second behind Hamlin as they negotiated traffic on the 1-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.
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 and 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.”
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR.com
Larson was disappointed standing next to his car after the race and explained that contact between his car and the No. 19 Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. 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 and won Stage 2. “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 — last year’s Dover 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 front-end 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-best finish (third) last week at Talladega — 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 winner 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.”
Corey Heim finished 25th in his NASCAR Cup Series debut. The 21-year-old Craftsman Truck Series regular 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.
The Cup Series’ next race is the AdventHealth 400, scheduled next Sunday, May 5 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Kansas Speedway. Hamlin is the defending winner.
Contributing: Staff reports
NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed in the Cup Series garage at Dover Motor Speedway without issue, confirming Hamlin as the race winner. Competition officials will take the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Chase Elliott and the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. back to the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, for teardown.
Kyle Larson revealed Sunday that Kevin Harvick will serve as his standby driver for the NASCAR All-Star Race weekend next month while he participates in qualifying for the Indianapolis 500.
Larson dropped the news with Harvick by his side during FOX Sports’ pre-race coverage of Sunday’s Cup Series race at Dover Motor Speedway (FS1, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Harvick, who shifted to FOX’s broadcast team this season after a Hall of Fame-worthy driving career, will potentially be called out of retirement to substitute during All-Star Race action in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet at North Wilkesboro Speedway on May 17-19. Multiple sessions of qualifying are scheduled May 18-19 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Larson will be bidding to make his Indy 500 debut May 26.
All-Star practice and qualifying at North Wilkesboro are scheduled Friday, May 17. All-Star heats are scheduled that Saturday (starting at 5:20 p.m. ET), and the All-Star main event will be Sunday at 8 p.m. ET (FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Harvick, a two-time All-Star race winner (2007, 2018), said he was approached by team owner Rick Hendrick to ask about his availability.
“When Rick called a couple of days ago, he said, ‘Hey, I need a favor,’ and I know when the conversation starts like that, that usually you have to say yes,” Harvick said. “So I appreciate you guys calling. It’s going to be fun.”
Larson entered Sunday’s Würth 400 at Dover as the Cup Series points leader. He won last year’s NASCAR All-Star Race in dominant fashion, with stock-car racing’s top division holding its first event at the 0.625-mile North Wilkesboro track since 1996.
Editor’s note: This projection has been updated after Saturday’s practice and qualifying at Dover:
After last-lap mayhem last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, the NASCAR Cup Series is now at Dover Motor Speedway for the Würth 400 (2 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The advance metrics originally predicted Martin Truex Jr. would roar to Victory Lane for the first time this season and end his winless drought at the Monster Mile for the second straight year. However, after practice and qualifying on Saturday, it’s Denny Hamlin, Truex Jr.’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, who rises to the top of the board.
Hamlin will start the race in the sixth position, while Truex will fire off in 15th after Saturday’s qualifying. Hamlin also posted the second-best 10-lap averages in practice, behind only William Byron.
Byron follows Hamlin in the updated projection, with Truex, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott rounding out the top five. Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, polesitter Kyle Busch and Ty Gibbs round out the top 10.
With the 2024 campaign in full swing, the high-banked concrete oval in Delaware is sure to produce more thrilling action this weekend in the Cup Series.
OTHER DRIVERS TO WATCH
KYLE LARSON: Larson’s 8.6 average finish at Dover is second best all-time among drivers with more than two races. Dover’s slick track profile has helped the former dirt-track racer find his way to the front. Larson has led over 100 laps in four out of his previous nine starts at Dover. In total, Larson has led 899 laps at Dover — his most at any track.
CHASE ELLIOTT: In 13 starts at Dover, Elliott has nine top-five finishes and two wins. Elliott is starting 29th, however, and will need to roar forward from the back.
ROSS CHASTAIN: Chastain has found a liking to Dover in the Next Gen car. He’s the only driver to finish in the top five at both races, leading the field with a total of 97 points scored at the track. More importantly, Chastain has led 184 laps at Dover, and he leads all drivers in laps run in the top five (613) and laps run in the top 10 (754).
ALEX BOWMAN: Since 2019, Bowman has accumulated five top-five finishes at the Monster Mile. He is also a former Dover winner, having won at the concrete oval in 2021. Bowman has also found solid consistency this season, scoring top-10 finishes in four of the last six races.
KYLE BUSCH: Busch was a Saturday surprise by surging to his first pole win of the season. He has seven top-two finishes at Dover, including three wins.
RACING INSIGHTS’ PROJECTIONS FOR THE WÜRTH 400 Racing Insights’ advanced statistical formula includes current track, current track type, recent performance, team data and pit-crew data to arrive at a projected winner and full race results.
