DOVER, DE. – Denny Hamlin held off Kyle Larson for his third NASCAR Cup Series victory Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway.
Denny Hamlin won the Würth 400 to score his 54th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his third of the season and his second at Dover. His margin of victory over second-place Kyle Larson was .256 of a second.
Hamlin controlled the race off the final restart with 62 laps to go. However, Larson erased Hamlin’s 1.5-second lead that the Joe Gibbs Racing driver held with 35 laps to go to get within a few car lengths at the finish.
Hamlin is now tied with William Byron with a series-leading three victories. He led a race-high 136 of 400 laps.
There were five caution periods for a total of 42 laps. Only 17 of the 37 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
Kyle Larson remains the championship leader after Dover with a 15-point advantage over second-place Martin Truex Jr.
Stage 1 Winner: Martin Truex Jr., of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stewart-Haas Racing Finish:
- Noah Gragson (Started 5th, Finished 6th / Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)
- Josh Berry (Started 12th, Finished 14th / Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)
- Chase Briscoe (Started 7th, Finished 19th / Running, completed 399 of 400 laps)
- Ryan Preece (Started 28th, Finished 37th / Safety, completed 66 of 400 laps)
Stewart-Haas Racing Points:
- Chase Briscoe (12th with 274 points, 136 out of first)
- Noah Gragson (21st with 185 points, 225 out of first)
- Josh Berry (24th with 174 points, 236 out of first)
- Ryan Preece (28th with 163 points, 247 out of first)
The Würth 400 marked Noah Gragson’s milestone 50th career NASCAR Cup Series start.
Gragson earned his fourth top-10 of the season, and his first top-10 in two career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Dover. This was his second straight top-10. He finished a career-best third last Sunday at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.
“The MillerTech Mustang was good once we got track position, it just took a little bit,” said Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 MillerTech Ford Mustang Dark Horse. “But things fell our way and we were able to come home with a top-10 finish in sixth. It wasn’t looking pretty there in the middle of the race, but I’m thankful things went our way and we were able to get that track position at the end after a couple of cautions. We set goals throughout the week on where we wanted to run and we were hoping to qualify in the top-15 and run top-16 today. So, to come home sixth today feels really good. Big thanks to (crew chief) Drew Blickensderfer, Andy Houston our spotter, everyone else on this 10 team, they’ve been doing a great job with me and I’m excited for the future.”
Gragson’s sixth-place result bettered his previous best finish at Dover – 34th, earned last year.
Josh Berry earned his third top-15 of the season and his second top-15 in three career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Dover. He was the highest-finishing rookie.
“It was solid. We had a good car, really, all day, and were solid,” said Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse. “We just needed more track position. We kept chipping away at it and just couldn’t quite get up into the top-10, but I thought we were going to be really close to having a top-10 effort. But we definitely had top-10 speed. So we just need to keep chipping away at it and doing the same thing and the results will come.”
This was Chase Briscoe’s eighth consecutive top-20.
“It was weird,” said Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse. “We started off pretty good. We just had one really bad run where we went from fifth to 25th. The balance wasn’t really where we needed it to be. It would be one way, and then the next run it would be another way. It seemed like we were always chasing our tails. Kind of burned by that caution and finished 19th. Definitely this place has been trouble for us, for whatever reason. We just need to do our homework a little bit more and see what we can find.”
“I felt like I was on fire,” said Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 Morton Buildings Ford Mustang Dark Horse. “I went the first 70 laps just trying to push through, and then it got so bad that I couldn’t put my hands on the wheel. I was worried that an oil line or something would melt, and then the whole car would be engulfed in fire, and I didn’t want to be trapped in there having that happen, so I pulled off.”
