Denny Hamlin Ties Lee Petty In Career Wins With Superb Victory At Würth 400

In a confident prediction on his weekly podcast, Denny Hamlin predicted a victory at the Würth 400 NASCAR Cup Series event at Dover Motor Speedway, which he successfully achieved today. Hamlin, driving the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, narrowly edged out points leader Kyle Larson by 0.256 seconds, securing his third triumph of the year and the 54th of his storied career, now equaling the great Lee Petty in the all-time win tally.

After a late-race incident brought out the caution flag, Hamlin was leading and maintained his position for the concluding 72 laps. On the pivotal restart at Lap 339, Hamlin outpaced Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and at one stage extended his lead to over two seconds. Despite Larson’s efforts, which brought him within two-tenths of a second of Hamlin amidst the final lap traffic on the mile-long Dover circuit, he couldn’t mount a successful challenge for the lead.

“You’d better win, if you’re going to open your mouth, that’s for sure.”

“Just a great team, they just did a great job.”

“All the guys on the wall right here, they made it happen. Thank you to them and to [crew chief] Chris Gabehart. The whole team just gave me a great car. I think the key moment, really, was Kyle did an excellent job executing during the green-flag pit cycle and then we were able to get the lead there on that restart, then got the caution that allowed us to control the restart. That was really the key moment for us and certainly feels good winning here at Dover,” said a jubilant Hamlin.

Larson expressed his frustration post-race, citing a late restart clash with Martin Truex Jr.’s No. 19 Toyota as a setback that impeded his momentum and his ability to challenge Hamlin for the win.

“I knew when I got within three car-lengths, he was going to start moving around. I couldn’t really do anything. I was trying all sorts of different angles and speeds, all that. Nothing could generate enough speed to get close enough, I guess, to do anything. That was a bummer.

“A great day for our HendrickCars.com Chevy team. Started 21st, drove up to sixth in the first stage or fifth. Got a stage win. Another stage win sounds good. Good points day. We would have loved to get a win,” added Larson.

Up next for the Cup Series is the AdventHealth 400, set for the upcoming Sunday, May 5, at 3 p.m. ET. Fans can catch the action at Kansas Speedway on FS1, MRN Radio, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, where Hamlin will aim to defend his title.

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