Denny Hamlin scored his third win in the past seven races Sunday at Dover, holding off Kyle Larson over the last 25 laps.
Larson finished second and was followed across the line by Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott.
MORE: Dover results
More: What drivers said after the race
Here are three takeaways from Sunday’s race:
Denny Hamlin takes control with 72 laps to go … and look out the next couple of weeks.
The key moment came on the next-to-last restart of the race. Larson led and chose the top lane, the preferred lane, and had Hamlin on his inside.
Hamlin moved ahead of Larson by the time the caution came out for a multi-car accident that collected Bubba Wallace, William Byron and Christopher Bell on the restart.
Larson explained to FS1 after the race what happened on his restart: “I went late in the (restart) zone and Martin (Truex Jr. who was behind Larson) was trying to time it right. He hit me right when I wanted to go and it just, like, screwed up and I got a lot of wheelspin and (Hamlin) was able to kind of out-race me into (Turn) 1 and his car was really good on short runs.”
Hamlin said: “I just felt like my car was so good on the short run that I wasn’t really worried about when we came out behind Kyle, even though there was only 60, 70 laps left. That’s easy for me to say because I think he’s probably one of the best at defending his spot, but I just was confident in how fast my car was.”
While Larson closed, Hamlin moved around the track and took Larson’s line. Larson couldn’t find a way around and finished second.
“It’s just as hard to pass the leader, for sure,” Larson said. “Like I said, it’s just so easy for them to maneuver their car and shut off the air behind him. Yeah, he (Denny Hamlin) ... I don’t think he did anything special, but he was able to run in the middle of the racetrack and close me off on the top. If I ever pulled to the bottom, he could pull down and shut off my air. It’s just a product of the car and all that. We did what we could. I just wish I wouldn’t have given up the lead.”
The win could be the start of something big for Hamlin. The series heads next to Kansas Speedway — Hamlin won the spring race there last year and was second to Tyler Reddick in last fall’s playoff race. After Kansas is Darlington, one of Hamlin’s better tracks.
Hamlin is tied with William Byron with three wins this season and could see that total grow soon.
2. Kyle Busch scores a top-five finish
Kyle Busch’s fourth-place finish was his best result since placing third at Atlanta in the second race of the season.
He had only one top-five finish entering Sunday’s race — the fewest since his rookie year. He also had only three top 10s before Sunday — also his fewest since his rookie year.
The early season woes had Busch outside a playoff spot heading to Dover. Sunday’s result has him back in a playoff spot after 11 of 26 races in the regular season.
This team has had various struggles on pit road and on the track this season, but to finish fourth is a good sign.
“I feel like if we came off of pit road there at the end with the clean racetrack, the way that it was, being able to just charge forward, try to catch these leaders, that was probably going to be our best bet to run them down and race with them,” Busch said. “Definitely had a third-place car today. Having to come from eighth to fourth on the final run was tough. That’s all we had.”
3. No Truex family reunion at Dover’s Victory Lane
For a while it looked as if Martin Truex Jr. could repeat what he and younger brother Ryan did last year. Ryan Truex won the Xfinity race and Martin Truex Jr. won the Cup race last year.
Saturday, Ryan Truex again won the Xfinity race. Sunday, Martin Truex Jr. led 69 of the first 183 laps but lost control of the lead and never could get back to the front.
Truex lost the lead to Kyle Larson during a green-flag pit cycle.
Larson had a 9.9443-second pit stop on Lap 183. Truex came in a lap later and had a 12.7429-second pit stop. That allowed Larson to leapfrog Truex and he never led again.
Stage 1 winner: Martin Truex Jr.
Stage 2 winner: Kyle Larson
Who had a good race: Noah Gragson’s sixth-place finish gave him back-to-back top 10s for the first time in his Cup career. ... Daniel Hemric finished ninth, giving him back-to-back top 10s for the first time in Cup.
Who had a bad race: Bubba Wallace spun after contact with Zane Smith on a restart. Wallace collected William Byron and Christopher Bell. Wallace finished 32nd. He’s never had a top 10 in Cup at Dover. ... Bell finished 34th and has placed 35th or worse in three of the last four races.
Notable: Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports have combined to win nine of the first 11 Cup points races. ... Joe Gibbs Racing placed three cars in the top 10 on Sunday after having gone the last three races without a top 10. That had been the team’s longest drought since 2003. ... Corey Heim finished 25th in his Cup debut, driving for an injured Erik Jones. ... Ford remains winless in Cup this year.
Next: The series races May 5 at Kansas Speedway (3 p.m. ET on FS1)
