Four Score: Hamlin Repeats At Dover

DOVER, Del. — Denny Hamlin survived a 56-minute rain delay with only 14 laps remaining to win Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover Motor Speedway.

Hamlin overcame a pair of overtime restarts following the rain delay and outlasted a pair of Joe Gibbs Racing teammates to collect his fourth victory of the NASCAR Cup Series season.

After teammate Christopher Bell spun while challenging for the win following the rain delay, Hamlin held off another teammate, Chase Briscoe, who had fresher tires on his No. 19 Toyota.

It marks back-to-back wins at the Dover concrete mile for Hamlin.

“Things were going pretty well there before the rain and then obviously had to endure a few restarts there,” said Hamlin, who collected his 58th career Cup victory. “It was tough, those guys gave me a run for it, no doubt about it. Winning here at Dover is super special to me. This is a place I had not been very good at the first half of my career and then to have back-to-back (wins) here the last couple years is amazing.”

Briscoe pushed Hamlin on that final two-lap sprint to the checkered flag. The two ran door-to-door on the white-flag lap – their cars even making slight contact – before Hamlin’s No. 11 JGR Toyota pulled around Briscoe’s car, racing to a 0.310-second victory to become the 13th driver in track history to win consecutive races.

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson finished third and fourth with another JGR driver, Ty Gibbs, rounding out the top five.

For most of the day, it looked as if Hendrick’s Chase Elliott would continue a summer hot streak and claim his second race win in the last four weeks. He led a race-best 238 of the 407 laps.

There was some consolation in Elliott’s sixth-place finish, however, as it – combined with teammate William Byron’s accident with two laps remaining in regulation –gives Elliott a 17-point championship lead with five races remaining in the regular season.

Behind Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top 10.

The race also set the In-Season Challenge championship matchup next week at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with Gibbs and longshot Ty Dillon advancing to the title round.

Gibbs was paired against Tyler Reddick at Dover, and Dillon had to beat John Hunter Nemechek in the other bracket to settle the final two positions for $1 million to-win grand finale.

“Super cool today, I really appreciate my team.” Gibbs said smiling.

Dillon, who drives the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, was similarly ecstatic for the opportunity. He was seeded 32nd among the 32 drivers to qualify for the In-Season Challenge tournament and had to race past drivers like Hamlin in earlier rounds.

“All respect to John Hunter. We ran next to each other all day,” a thrilled Dillon said. “Just so grateful to have this opportunity and this is one of the greatest things to happen in my career.”