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NBC Sports
20 hours ago
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Cup drivers recap Dover race won by Hamlin
Hear from Christopher Bell, Ty Dillon, Chase Briscoe, Alex Bowman and Denny Hamlin following the NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
NASCAR takeaways: Denny Hamlin outlasts Chase Briscoe during double-OT Dover race
Here is Denny Hamlin's Sunday story. 'Things were going pretty well there before the rain,' he said on the TNT broadcast after winning the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover Motor Speedway. 'Then, obviously, had to endure.' For a long time. With 17 laps to go, Hamlin was the leader separating from second-place Christopher Bell when the caution flag emerged for Ross Chastain. With 14 to go and the race still under yellow, the rain hit. Action stalled for an hour, all while Hamlin waited in first place. He even had enough time to change his sweat-soaked suit. When the restart finally arrived with eight laps remaining, Hamlin outgunned Bell, only for Bell to spin and bring out another caution. Another yellow flag waved during the first overtime period, and Hamlin, on old tires, maintained his lead in double OT. He beat Chase Briscoe by 0.31 seconds. Alex Bowman snatched third. 'It was tough,' Hamlin said. 'Those guys gave me a run for it, no doubt about it. But this whole Progressive Toyota team just did amazing.' The victory is the 58th of his Cup Series career and his third at Dover. It's his fourth win of the season, which tops the circuit. In total, Hamlin led 67 laps. Chase Elliott led a race-high 238. He won Stage 1 and slotted sixth. Bell claimed Stage 2. What else happened? Let's break it down. 1. NASCAR In-Season Challenge bracket trims to 2 drivers It's a battle of Ty. NASCAR's inaugural In-Season Challenge is down to two drivers: Ty Dillon vs. Ty Gibbs. Dillon settled into 20th at Dover, edging John Hunter Nemechek, who followed in 21st. With a fifth-place finish, Gibbs defeated Tyler Reddick, who ended up 12th. As the 32nd seed, Dillon was the final driver to make the field. He now has survived four rounds to advance to the finals. Gibbs is a six seed. A prize of $1 million hangs in the balance. 2. Joey Logano breaks Richard Petty record In one category, Joey Logano is now The King. He broke Richard Petty's record for youngest driver to reach 600 career Cup Series starts. Logano is 35 years, one month and 26 days old. Petty's high mark was 35 years, seven months and 23 days. It stood for 52 years. Others who cracked the list before the age of 40: Kyle Busch (36 years, four months), Jeff Gordon (38 years, 11 months) and Kurt Busch (39 years). Logano placed 14th Sunday. Dover is a notable place for him. In May 2008, he debuted on the national stage, taking sixth in a Nationwide Series race at the Monster Mile. His first Cup start came at New Hampshire that September. Logano still has a long way to go to reach Petty's record of 1,184 career starts. Petty is also the only driver to win his 600th start. 3. NASCAR schedule: Next up, Cup Series is Brickyard-bound Prepare to hear the word "historic" over and over again in the coming week, as NASCAR visits Indy for the 32nd Brickyard 400 at, yes, historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Well, not exactly the 32nd, considering those three recent years when they raced on the Indy road course. The weekend begins with the Truck Series, which returns after a three-week break in the schedule. The trucks race Friday night at Lucas Oil Raceway, several miles west of Indy. Saturday, all the focus moves to Gasoline Alley, the Yard of Bricks and the "Racing Capital of the World," as the Xfinity Series presents the Pennzoil 250. The Brickyard 400, Race 22 of the 2025 Cup Series season, caps the weekend Sunday and completes TNT's five-week run of broadcasts. The green flag will fly at 2 p.m. — Ken Willis contributed to this story This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR results today: Denny Hamlin is Dover race winner
Yahoo
a day ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
NASCAR: Denny Hamlin holds on for chaotic overtime win at Dover after hour-long rain delay with 14 scheduled laps to go
Denny Hamlin's victory on Sunday at Dover looked pretty safe with 14 laps to go. Ross Chastain's crash brought out a late caution flag and rain started to pour not long after the yellow was thrown. Hamlin was leading teammate Christopher Bell and likely thought he had his fourth win in the bag. Not so fast. With the heavy rain being fairly brief, NASCAR immediately worked to dry the track. Roughly an hour after the race was red-flagged, it resumed for eight scheduled green-flag laps. The actual number ended up being far fewer than that. Bell spun to trigger a multi-car crash while racing with Hamlin for the lead on the first restart, and then Hamlin had to hold on for two more restarts to get his Cup Series-leading fourth win of the season as he kept teammate Chase Briscoe at bay over the final two laps. It ended up being a stellar day for Hamlin on the track after a less than ideal week in the courtroom. Hamlin's 23XI Racing team lost its charters along with Front Row Motorsports as a federal judge refused to grant the teams a temporary restraining order to keep them. The ruling was part of the teams' months-long battle with NASCAR over the sanctioning body's franchising agreement. Both 23XI and FRM sued NASCAR, claiming that NASCAR was monopolistic as it gave its teams just hours to sign a new charter agreement in the fall of 2024. Sunday's race ended up going seven laps over its scheduled distance thanks to the two crashes after the rain delay. After Bell spun to start a crash that included Noah Gragson and William Byron, Zane Smith and Ryan Preece crashed after that restart. Briscoe, meanwhile, worked his way through the field after pitting for two fresh tires immediately after the rain delay. Hamlin, Bell and others at the front of the field opted to stay out on older tires knowing that passing was incredibly difficult all day at Dover thanks to the aerodynamic deficiencies of the current Cup Series car. The rain delay put NASCAR in a unique situation. In most instances, a red flag for rain with less than 20 laps to go equals an automatic end to the race. You can understand why. It's a lot of track drying work for little payoff. Eight laps of green-flag racing at Dover is less than four minutes. But the quickness of the rain — and the concrete track surface — gave NASCAR a reason to think it could finish the race. And sure enough, it ended on a mostly dry track. It was an eventful payoff for the fans who stuck around both at the track and on TNT. On a slow sports afternoon following Scottie Scheffler's dominant British Open victory, NASCAR didn't have much competition for viewers' attention. And restart highlights make for great social media clips. But you can also see the argument against restarting the race. Especially if you're a fan of Bell, Byron or anyone else who saw their days go south after the rain delay. It would have been surprising had a crash or two not happened over the final eight scheduled laps. Drivers know that restarts are their best chances to gain track position even when passing isn't as difficult as it was at Dover on Sunday. The myriad tire strategies only added to that likelihood as the speed discrepancies between drivers on older and newer tires can easily create contact. Crashes, of course, increase costs for teams. And this is a NASCAR that has cut track time in recent years in the name of cost savings for its competitors. Even as the sun quickly shined following the rain, cutting the race short by just 14 laps is an easily defensible situation. This is, after all, a regular-season race in the middle of the summer. It's not a playoff race. Had Chastain not crashed and the rain hit with less than 10 laps to go, it's very easy to see how NASCAR calls the race early. But the final 20-plus actual laps produced more action than the first 386 laps did combined to provide a notable end to what had been a snoozer of a race. Had someone like Briscoe, Kyle Larson or another driver who hardly led a lap all day ended up winning after the rain, the outcome might be hard to stomach. Instead, the guy who was winning when the rain fell ended up showing why he's a title contender yet again by getting the winner's trophy over an hour later than he might have expected.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Christopher Bell spins again at NASCAR Dover race, collects Noah Gragson, William Byron
Christopher Bell spun for a second time during the NASCAR Dover race on July 20. Bell, who had spun on Lap 260 during the July 20 Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover Motor Speedway, spun on the front stretch at Dover on Lap 393. The race had been red-flagged for 56 minutes after rain hit the speedway. Bell was racing Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin on the low side of the track. Bell got loose coming off Turn 4 and spun through the front stretch. He will be able to continue. Unlike the earlier crash where drivers missed Bell, two drivers were not able to avoid the No. 20 Toyota. Noah Gragson and William Byron both hit in the inside wall trying to avoid Bell. Both were running toward the front of the field and will drop out of the running. On the ensuing pit stop, Bell was hit with a pit road speeding penalty. Christopher Bell hometown Christopher Bell is from Norman, Oklahoma. Christopher Bell wins Christopher Bell has three wins this season, all consecutive at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Circuit of the Americas and Phoenix Raceway. He also won the NASCAR All-Star Race exhibition event at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Christopher Bell stats Christopher Bell has three wins, seven top-5 finishes, 11 top-10 finishes and an average finish of 11.00. He also has 153 laps led. Follow sports writer Austin Chastain on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @ChastainAJ or reach him via email at achastain@ This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NASCAR Dover race: Christopher Bell spins again, ends chances to win
Yahoo
a day ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Christopher Bell spins from lead during NASCAR Dover race
This story was updated with new information. Christopher Bell spun in the final stage of the NASCAR Dover race. On Lap 260 of the July 20 Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400, Bell spun from the lead after winning the second stage of the race. Bell was scored in the lead when caution flew on Lap 337 for rain. Bell was running the middle line with Chase Elliott on the inside going into Turn 3. The two did not make contact but Bell spun through the corner. The entire field was able to avoid Bell, who drove through the pit lane. With no one hitting Bell, he is able to continue but had to pit for new tires. He was scored in 22nd place after the spin, the final car on the lead lap before Justin Haley was given the free pass. Chase Elliott won the first stage at Dover and continues to lead. Christopher Bell hometown Christopher Bell is from Norman, Oklahoma. Christopher Bell wins Christopher Bell has three wins on the season, having won three consecutive races at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Circuit of the Americas and Phoenix Raceway early in the season. He also won the NASCAR All-Star Race exhibition event at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Christopher Bell stats Christopher Bell has three wins, seven top 5 finishes, 11 top 10 finishes and an average finish of 11.00. He also has 153 laps led. Follow sports writer Austin Chastain on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @ChastainAJ or reach him via email at achastain@ This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Christopher Bell spins from lead during NASCAR Dover race
