Denny Hamlin holds off Larson late to win NASCAR Cup race at Dover Motor Speedway
DOVER, Del. (AP) — Denny Hamlin called his shot ahead of Dover, guaranteeing a win on his podcast, then followed through on his bold boast that would have made the Bambino proud and held off Kyle Larson down the stretch to park his Toyota in victory lane.
Hamlin wiggled past lapped traffic and never let Larson squeak by him over the final laps in a showdown between two of NASCAR’s elite drivers and won the Cup race by about a quarter of a second Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway.
“You better win if you’re going to open your mouth, that’s for sure,” Hamlin said.
Hamlin has the victory lane celebration down pat this season. He celebrated last week at Talladega Superspeedway in his role as co-owner of 23XI Racing when Tyler Reddick took the checkered flag. Hamlin’s contribution was a bit overshadowed by his fellow team owner — Michael Jordan. For the first time since he became a NASCAR Cup team owner, Jordan was at the track to savor in person a victory by one of his drivers.