Denny Hamlin delivers at Dover for third win in 2024

Denny Hamlin called his shot and conquered the Monster Mile. (Photo: James Gilbert | Getty Images)

DOVER, Del. – For the third time in 2024, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin found Victory Lane as he delivered his 54th career NASCAR Cup Series win in the Würth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway.

After taking home the checkered flag at the Monster Mile, Hamlin now ties Lee Petty for 12th all-time in Cup Series history. The win for Hamlin was a hard-fought battle, but he made sure to give credit to his crew after the race.

“This whole Mavis Tires and Brakes team did a great job,” Hamlin said. “All the guys on the wall right here, they’re the ones that make it happen. Thank you to them, Chris Gabehart, the whole team for just giving me great cars. I think the key moment really was Kyle (Larson) did a great job executing on that green flag pit stop.

“Then we were able to get the lead on the restart, which allowed us with a caution to control the restart. That was the key moment for us. Man, certainly feels good winning here at Dover.”

Called it pic.twitter.com/qCnrCLHmHo
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) April 28, 2024

Hamlin had to hold off a hard-charging Kyle Larson in the final stage. The Stage 2 winner wound up with 51 points and ended the day as the new Cup Series points leader.

“It’s so easy as the leader to shut off the air to the guy behind you at a track like Dover, especially where it’s low on grip as the run progresses,” Larson said. “I knew I was going to have an uphill battle once I lost the lead on that restart.

“I felt like if I had gotten the lead, I could have maintained my run like I did in the second stage and hold those guys off. It was a good day to get a lot of points and all that, but I would have loved to win obviously.”

Rounding out the top three was last year’s Dover winner Martin Truex Jr. and his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. His younger brother, Ryan Truex, won the Xfinity Series race at Dover on Saturday.

Still, unfortunately for the Truex family, the brothers could not sweep the weekend for the second straight season.

“Feel like we let one get away today,” Truex Jr. said. “Had a really strong Bass Pro Camry. You can’t lose control of these races mid-stage like that. The track changes, you get behind. Man, just stinks. Overall, a good day. Just keep working on it.”

Results from the 2024 Würth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway are listed below:

Happy after getting neuropathy treatment

Other Race Facts

Denny Hamlin has led in 15 straight races in the NASCAR Cup Series. According to statistician Trey Ryan, this is tied for the 11th longest run in premier series history.

Noah Gragson put together back-to-back successful race weekends for his No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing team. After a third-place finish at Talladega, Gragson finished sixth at Dover.

Corey LaJoie stayed out on the track during a pit cycle and led 33 laps at Dover. This is the second most laps LaJoie has ever led in a Cup Series race. The Spire Motorsports driver led 48 laps at Bristol in 2023.

The biggest movers in the standings were Kyle Busch and Gragson, who both gained six spots as Busch moved up to 11th and Gragson up to 21st.

Daniel Hemric led five laps in his No. 31 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet at Dover. The 2021 Xfinity Series champion has led 14 laps in the last two races, accounting for 39% of his career total laps led in the Cup Series (36 laps led).

Truck Series regular Corey Heim made his Cup Series debut, replacing the injured Erik Jones in the No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota, who suffered a compression fracture in his lower vertebra last weekend at Talladega.

“I really felt emotional,” Heim said. “I feel like I’ve worked so hard for this moment. To finish where I ended up is unfortunate. I feel like I worked my butt off to be there. It’s a really cool moment for me.”

Heim finished 25th in the first race that Jones has missed in his full-time Cup Series career. Jones had competed in every race since the 2017 Daytona 500 (262 races).

GRID Ranking

The 2024 GRID Ranking is the eighth year of the world’s premier motorsport ranking and was initially released on Sunday, April 7.

The official ranking includes drivers that participate in seven racing series (NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, Formula E, World Rally Championship, Repco Supercars, MotoGP), and each driver earns GRID Ratings, which help determine their seeding in the GRID Ranking.

DRIVER	OLD RATING	PREVIOUS RANKING	MOST RECENT FINISH	NEW RATING	NEW RANKING
William Byron	15.24	12th	33rd	13.86	13th
Kyle Larson	10.06	27th	2nd	11.57	20th
Denny Hamlin	N/A	N/A	1st	10.63	23rd
Tyler Reddick	10.80	24th	11th	9.82	28th
Christopher Bell	9.92	T-29th	34th	9.01	33rd

Week 4 of the GRID Ranking:

Week 4 of the #GRIDRanking. Ogier leads, but Max Verstappen is climbing up and is the easy favorite for the #MiamiGP next weekend!

Miami for F1 and NASCAR at Kansas next weekend! #F1 | #ABBFormulaE | #INDYCAR | #MotoGP | #NASCAR | #RepcoSC | #WRC pic.twitter.com/Pct1gvrANi
— GRID Network (@GridNetworkTV) April 28, 2024

2023 NASCAR GRID Rating champion William Byron remains on top despite having his first DNF of the season at Dover. Byron currently sits 13th in the GRID Ranking.

Denny Hamlin was the biggest mover as he jumped from just outside the NASCAR GRID Rating to third in the rating and 23rd in the GRID Ranking.

The next race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is on Sunday, May 5 at Kansas Speedway. Coverage of the AdventHealth 400 will begin at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.