Denny Hamlin takes three straight stages at Dover on Saturday for win

NASCAR’s race at Dover whizzed by with few cautions and race leaders weaving through lapped cars in the final moments of the Drydene 311. Denny Hamlin took the checkered flag in the first of two consecutive race days for the Cup Series at Dover International Speedway.

By the final 20 laps, only 12 cars were running on the lead lap as Martin Truex Jr. fought to hold his position over Hamlin, which the No. 11 Toyota driver had narrowed down to under a second. Truex slowed slightly through traffic as Hamlin edged up on his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate’s tail.

“I’ve been running down the leaders these last few weeks, but I haven’t been able to get there,” Hamlin said after the race.

But with under 10 laps left, Hamlin drove low and made his pass of the No. 19, then sailed to his sixth race win of the year, his first win at The Monster Mile. The victory ties him with points leader Kevin Harvick, who finished fourth Saturday, in wins this season. He won the first two stages of the race to put him ahead of Harvick with seven first-place stage finishes.

“I was able to work the top line there a little bit to get the momentum,” Hamlin said. “It looked like our car was just a little bit better at moving around to different lines.”

Kyle Busch also found a rhythm mid-race at Dover and maintained his third place spot through the checkered flag. Pole-sitter Chase Elliott finished in fifth. Busch said that despite his car shifting between loose and tight during the race, he was leaving Day 1 at the track with a “good, solid third-place,” which has seemed difficult to come by for the No. 18 team this season.

“Got two good teammates here with a notebook that they’ve got to lean on and hopefully we can work on some things tonight and get ourselves better and come out here and win tomorrow,” Busch said.

Like Busch, who has not won a race in 2020, Jimmie Johnson found success at Dover with an eighth and seventh place finish in the first two stages. Johnson placed seventh at the race finish. The three top-10s gave the No. 48 driver, who sat just below Hendrick Teammate William Byron before the race, a three-point boost above the playoff cutoff and Byron.

Byron, meanwhile, struggled early and went a lap down while reporting equipment issues, ultimately resulting in a 28th place finish.

“I’m trying,” a frustrated Byron said over his radio during the second stage as he attempted to drive in the corner. “I don’t know what to do. I can only drive as far as it’ll go.”

Representing Team Penske through his Wood Brothers alliance, Matt DiBenedetto, also on the points bubble, finished 20th. Other Penske drivers Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski finished eighth and ninth, respectively. While Logano and Kesleowski are locked in with race wins, DiBenedetto sits in 15th place, 27 points above the cutoff. He will start on the pole Sunday with the invert.

The final JGR driver looking for a playoff berth, Erik Jones, battled back from early contact during an incident with Kurt Busch, who exited the race after nine laps with damage. Jones said after the race, his team reported, that he wanted to apologize to the elder Busch for the contact. Jones called the early bump his “mistake.”

“I got tight and it ended their day really quick,” Jones said. “I feel bad. I’ve raced with Kurt now awhile, and we have never had an issue and raced really well, so I want to say sorry to him first.”

Jones finished in 12th place Saturday, which was not enough to give him a boost over Byron, now in 17th. Jones sits 22 points down in 18th place while Tyler Reddick is 19th (-45). The No. 20 driver said immediately after the race he wasn’t sure if his team would switch to a backup car for the next day.

Finally, despite sitting well-below the playoff points cutoff, JTG Daugherty Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had a noteworthy Day 1 at Dover. The No. 47 driver raced from 13th to ninth to 10th through the three stages

The Cup Series returns tomorrow at the same time, 4 p.m. on NBCSN, for another 311 laps at Dover.

This story was originally published August 22, 2020 at 7:30 PM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription