Denny Hamlin had a big win at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway on Sunday, making it his third NASCAR Cup victory of the 2024 season in 11 races.
Surprisingly, these wins are his only top five finishes this year. He managed just one more top 10 finish, coming in eighth at Las Vegas.
Despite finishing 19th or worse four times, including consecutive finishes of 30th and 37th before Dover, Hamlin has led laps in every race this season.
Even though it’s been a competitive season for Hamlin, who’s had a remarkable 20-year Cup career, the results don’t always show it.
“I think we’ve led in every race this year, and not by accident or pit cycles. We’ve legit led,” Hamlin said Sunday. “I would say this is the most competitive (season). It’s probably only our third top five though.
“We have three wins, three top fives. We either crash or we win. I really wish I could have Texas back and a few others.”
But the good news is, after his first win at Bristol, Hamlin secured a spot in the playoffs. This means he and his team can focus on winning more races rather than worrying about earning points.
“It feels good. In the groove right now for sure,” he said. “Certainly you feel like you want to celebrate these because you just never know if it’s your last or anything like that. I’m just so focused this season on getting a lot of wins, trying to move that tally up as high as I can.
“I expect to win every week. There’s no reason I shouldn’t expect to win.”
Earlier, Hamlin had mentioned on his podcast that he could win any – or all – of the upcoming races at Dover, Kansas, and Darlington, tracks where he’s historically done well.
True to his word, he won at Dover, even making a playful gesture of swinging the checkered flag like a bat at the start/finish line, referring to “calling his shot.”
But the win wasn’t easy. Hamlin had to fight off a strong challenge from series points leader Kyle Larson over the final laps.
Although Larson briefly got ahead after a pit stop, Hamlin managed to retake the lead on the track during a restart.
Despite being in the lead, Hamlin wasn’t overly confident.
“I think there’s certainly some that are better at defending their spot than others. I don’t put myself very high on that list,” he said.
“I think I’m probably pretty low on that list, which makes me a little worried when you’re going up against Kyle at the end of the race, someone that’s not afraid to move around the race track. I was certainly nervous.
“I also knew that as long as I just did my job, hit my marks, didn’t have any major blowup laps – that’s one where it pokes how high on the graph where I missed my line or got caught in traffic – then I was going to be able to hold him off. He certainly made it more interesting than what I really wanted.”
