Race report
NASCAR Cup Dover
Denny Hamlin wins dramatic Dover NASCAR Cup race in double overtime
After a late-race rain delay, Hamlin had to fend off two different teammates to capture the checkered flag
Nick DeGroot
Edited: Jul 21, 2025, 6:08 AM
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Christopher Bell spins, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images
Denny Hamlin certainly had to earn it at Dover Motor Speedway on Sunday. After a one-hour rain delay, he had to face two hard-charging teammates in the closing laps, beating both Christopher Bell and later Chase Briscoe to capture the win.
"Things are going pretty well there before the rain," said Hamlin. "Then obviously had to endure a few restarts there. But yeah, it was tough. Those guys gave me a run for it, no doubt about it. This whole Progressive Toyota team did amazing ... winning here in Dover is super special to me. This is a place I've not been very good at the first half of my career. Having a back-to-back here over the last few years is amazing."
Watch: Denny at Dover: Hamlin holds off Briscoe to grab the win
When the race resumed with just eight laps to go, the leaders stayed out on old tires on a green track. However, Tyler Reddick and Briscoe led the way in ninth and tenth for those who chose to pit for fresh rubber.
On the restart, Bell managed to stay side-by-side with Hamlin for the race lead, but it ended in disaster at the exit of Turn 4. Bell spun, causing a caution as both William Byron and Noah Gragson crashed trying to avoid him.
Briscoe made huge gains before the yellow came out, making it up to fourth. The race pushed into overtime, and Briscoe quickly made his way to second. On the backstretch, Ryan Preece and Zane Smith collided with Smith spinning into the inside wall.
The race was set to end in double overtime, with Hamlin now facing another teammate. Briscoe fought hard, even making contact with Hamlin as they approached the white flag, but the veteran driver managed to clear him and get away.
For Hamlin, it was his 58th career win and his fourth of the 2025 season. Briscoe was second, Alex Bowman third, Kyle Larson fourth, and Ty Gibbs fifth. Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, and Brad Keselowski filled out the remainder of the top ten.
As for the $1 million in-season challenge, Gibbs bested Reddick while Ty Dillon managed to finish ahead of John Hunter Nemechek. (Yes, it really will be Ty versus Ty in the finals at the Brickyard 400.)
Stage 1
Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Chase Briscoe, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing Toyota
Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images
As the race got underway, Elliott battled back-and-forth with Briscoe for the top spot. Behind them, Shane van Gisbergen slowed with a right-front tire issue, and was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop that put him almost five laps down. It was a tough break after back-to-back wins at road/street courses.
Due to no practice and qualifying on Saturday, NASCAR planned a competition caution for Lap 35, but there were no reported issues.
Daniel Suarez, Trackhouse Chevrolet
Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images
As the stage continued, Elliott found himself in a fierce battle with Daniel Suarez, who was trying desperately to not fall a lap down. Elliott eventually cleared him, winning the stage over Bell and Hamlin.
However, the fight was worth it as Suarez earned the free pass and got back on the lead lap. At the end of the stage, both Erik Jones and A.J. Allmendinger also suffered tire issues.
Stage 2
Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images
Things remained clean in the second stage, leading to green-flag pit stops. Elliott lost the lead after the car fell off the jack, giving Joe Gibbs Racing control of the race,
Hamlin was now out front, but it wasn't long until his teammate Bell snatched the lead away. Carson Hocevar was among those who ran long during the pit cycle, and later had a close call with Bell as he shot up into the outside wall, damaging the No. 77 car.
Hamlin was unable to challenge Bell as he remained trapped behind the lapped car of Ty Dillon, growing frustrated on the radio. However, Dillon was in a tense battle with John Hunter Nemechek over advancement in the $1 million in-season challenge.
William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images
Allmendinger had to go behind the wall as he lost the brakes, ending his day. At the end of the stage, Ross Chastain got held up while trying to lap Ricky Stenhouse Jr., resulting in some contact. As the stage ended, Chastain door-slammed Stenhouse.
Out front, Bell captured the stage win with Bowman second and Hamlin third.
Stage 3
Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Photo by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images
As the final stage began, Bell suddenly bottomed out and spun from the lead. Shockingly, no one hit the No. 20 as the car was parked sideways in the middle of Turns 3 and 4.
On the following restart, Chastain had a run-in with Logano, who like Stenhouse, likely wanted payback for an incident at Chicago. He drove in deep, sending Chastain up the track.
Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Photo by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images
As the field approached green-flag pit stops, there was some hesitation as rain showers approached. Bell and A. Dillon decided to run long, catching a caution for raindrops.
The race did eventually resume, but it was a huge track position gain for both drivers. Hamlin led the way, but Bell was right behind him, harassing him as the laps ticked away.
Mother Nature was not done with Dover yet as another cell closed in on the track. With 17 laps to go, Chastain wrecked from 13th, ending his day. While the damaged car was dragged away, the skies opened up and rain poured down onto the track.
Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images
NASCAR red-flagged the race with 13 laps to go, but they did not immediately call it. The rain shower passed over the track, soaking the concrete, but the sun quickly returned. Officials immediately sent jet driers out to get the surface ready to race again. The stoppage lasted 56 minutes, but set-up the aforementioned mad dash to the checkered flag.
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NASCAR Cup
54
Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info
1
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4
Main Information Additional Data
1
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2
Cla Driver # Manufacturer Laps Time Interval Pits Points Retirement 1 D. Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing 11 Toyota 407
3:40'17.969
9 57 2 C. Briscoe Joe Gibbs Racing 19 Toyota 407
+0.310
3:40'18.279
0.310 10 44 3 A. Bowman Hendrick Motorsports 48 Chevrolet 407
+0.409
3:40'18.378
0.099 10 49 4 K. Larson Hendrick Motorsports 5 Chevrolet 407
+0.667
3:40'18.636
0.258 10 40 5 T. Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing 54 Toyota 407
+1.465
3:40'19.434
0.798 10 39 6 C. Elliott Hendrick Motorsports 9 Chevrolet 407
+1.497
3:40'19.466
0.032 10 48 7 B. Wallace 23XI Racing 23 Toyota 407
+1.655
3:40'19.624
0.158 10 31 8 R. Blaney Team Penske 12 Ford 407
+1.824
3:40'19.793
0.169 10 31 9 C. Buescher RFK Racing 17 Ford 407
+2.006
3:40'19.975
0.182 10 28 10 B. Keselowski RFK Racing 6 Ford 407
+2.223
3:40'20.192
0.217 10 27 11 K. Busch Richard Childress Racing 8 Chevrolet 407
+2.282
3:40'20.251
0.059 10 29 12 T. Reddick 23XI Racing 45 Toyota 407
+2.537
3:40'20.506
0.255 11 25 13 M. McDowell Spire Motorsports 71 Chevrolet 407
+2.746
3:40'20.715
0.209 10 24 14 J. Logano Team Penske 22 Ford 407
+2.812
3:40'20.781
0.066 12 25 15 A. Dillon Richard Childress Racing 3 Chevrolet 407
+2.886
3:40'20.855
0.074 10 22 16 A. Cindric Team Penske 2 Ford 407
+3.135
3:40'21.104
0.249 10 21 17 J. Haley Spire Motorsports 7 Chevrolet 407
+3.156
3:40'21.125
0.021 12 20 18 C. Bell Joe Gibbs Racing 20 Toyota 407
+3.280
3:40'21.249
0.124 12 38 19 R. Preece RFK Racing 60 Ford 407
+4.064
3:40'22.033
0.784 11 18 20 T. Dillon Kaulig Racing 10 Chevrolet 407
+5.992
3:40'23.961
1.928 11 17 21 J. Nemechek Legacy Motor Club 42 Toyota 406
+1 Lap
3:40'21.715
1 Lap 10 16 22 Z. Smith Front Row Motorsports 38 Ford 406
+1 Lap
3:40'29.199
7.484 12 15 23 R. Stenhouse Jr Hyak Motorsports 47 Chevrolet 405
+2 Laps
3:40'21.922
1 Lap 11 14 24 R. Herbst 23XI Racing 35 Toyota 405
+2 Laps
3:40'22.031
0.109 10 13 25 T. Gilliland Front Row Motorsports 34 Ford 405
+2 Laps
3:40'22.231
0.200 12 12 26 D. Suarez TrackHouse Racing 99 Chevrolet 404
+3 Laps
3:40'21.503
1 Lap 10 11 27 E. Jones Legacy Motor Club 43 Toyota 404
+3 Laps
3:40'22.228
0.725 11 10 28
J. Berry Wood Brothers Racing
21 Ford 404
+3 Laps
3:40'22.395
0.167 11 9 29 C. Custer Haas Factory Team 41 Ford 403
+4 Laps
3:40'25.128
1 Lap 9 8 30 S. van Gisbergen TrackHouse Racing 88 Chevrolet 400
+7 Laps
3:40'24.827
3 Laps 11 7 31 W. Byron Hendrick Motorsports 24 Chevrolet 393
+14 Laps
3:24'41.662
7 Laps 9 18 Accident 32 N. Gragson Front Row Motorsports 4 Ford 393
+14 Laps
3:24'41.676
0.014 11 5 Accident 33 R. Chastain TrackHouse Racing 1 Chevrolet 382
+25 Laps
3:05'23.351
11 Laps 8 4 Accident 34 J. Yeley NY Racing Team 44 Chevrolet 369
+38 Laps
3:03'10.718
13 Laps 10 Fatigue 35 C. Hocevar Spire Motorsports 77 Chevrolet 302
+105 Laps
2:55'45.509
67 Laps 9 2 Handling 36 C. Ware Rick Ware Racing 51 Ford 232
+175 Laps
2:14'52.770
70 Laps 10 1 Handling 37 A. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing 16 Chevrolet 221
+186 Laps
1:43'58.948
11 Laps 7 1 Suspension View full results
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