Denny Hamlin prevailed in Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover Motor Speedway, a race that featured a 56-minute red flag for rain, late-race strategy decisions, and a pair of overtime restarts before the trophy was ultimately settled between a pair of Joe Gibbs Racing teammates. But the veteran Hamlin got it all right when it mattered most, getting a jump on the field in both overtime restarts and in the end holding off newest teammate Chase Briscoe, who was even on fresher tires. It marks back-to-back wins at the Dover concrete mile for Hamlin and a NASCAR Cup Series-best fourth victory of 2025.

Briscoe certainly pushed Hamlin on that final two-lap sprint to the checkered flag. The two ran door-to-door on the white-flag lap, their cars even making slight contact, before Hamlin’s No. 11 JGR Toyota Camry pulled around and cleared Briscoe’s car, racing off to a 0.310-second victory to become the 13th driver in track history to win consecutive races. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson finished third and fourth with another JGR driver, Ty Gibbs, rounding out the top five.

Now that win has got everyone talking. Even NASCAR legends have praised Denny’s performance and discussed the age-old key strategies that led to his victory.

Hamlin’s Dover win has got veterans talking

In the latest episode of NASCAR Inside the Race, veterans Kyle Petty and Greg Biffle chimed in with their take on Denny Hamlin’s Dover triumph, offering a peek into the grit and smarts that sealed the deal. Greg kicked things off, saying, “Well I’m going to tell you this Kyle Petty and I agree 100% on one thing. I’m not going to be a crew chief either. I’m not on that pitbox. I will drive a water truck and a dirt track though. But anyway look I love new tires okay any driver does. And there’s there’s so many things that that I could talk about here. One thing is when you stay out on old tires and they and you try and scrub them in, you try and get them ready to go and they throw the green flag. You’re a sitting duck that that you’re trying to accelerate the tires are spinning. You’re trying to short shift it. You stand a huge chance of getting wrecked from behind and I guarantee you when you get to turn one. You’re probably four wide and you don’t have the grip you need. So I’m in the camp of putting tires on but track position.”

Greg’s comments tap into a well-known dilemma in NASCAR strategy: fresh tires versus track position, especially critical at a place like Dover where Hamlin clinched victory this Sunday. Street courses naturally limit passing zones, and with narrow straights and tight corners, track position often trumps raw speed. When Greg mentions drivers becoming “sitting ducks” on restarts with old tires, he echoes what unfolded in the closing laps of Sunday’s race.

Several drivers, including Tyler Reddick and Chris Buescher, gambled by staying out late on old tires during a restart with under 20 laps to go. As Greg notes, once the green flag dropped, their spinning, heat-worn tires left them vulnerable, drivers behind with fresh tires launched aggressive dives into turn one, resulting in chaotic four-wide situations and position losses. His point about “short-shifting” to control wheelspin underscores a common tactic used to mitigate lack of grip on restarts, a gamble many lost on Sunday.

Kyle Petty jumped in, agreeing, “And listen and I’m going to agree with Greg on that. Every driver that I’ve ever been around, man, when the caution comes out. The first thing you think is tires. I think that that first lap, the restart and the first lap if you’re on old tires is the critical lap, especially with this car and this type of racing. And the reason I say that is because we saw Denny once he got through that first lap and could keep you neutralized on the inside or on the outside wherever you were trying to get around him, he could neutralize you and keep you hung in a place where you couldn’t really use your tires.”

Kyle Petty’s focus shifts to racecraft, specifically highlighting Denny Hamlin’s veteran mastery in the lead. Petty references the crucial “first lap after the restart,” a phase Hamlin handled with perfection Sunday at Dover. With track position secured after a well-timed final stop, Hamlin executed what Petty describes as “neutralizing” opponents, using precise car placement to block both inside and outside lines and prevent drivers behind from exploiting their fresher tires. His technique of controlling air, or “throwing dirty air,” involves deliberately positioning his car to disrupt airflow over the chasing car’s front end, robbing them of downforce and cornering stability, a defensive tactic Next Gen cars made even more effective.

Petty’s comparison of Hamlin with Joey Logano is spot-on. Both are statistically among the sport’s most aggressive defensive racers, often criticized yet praised for their tactical blocking. However, Petty notes Hamlin’s edge on technical circuits like Dover, where narrow confines reward his patience and precision, something evidenced in Sunday’s final 10 laps where Hamlin repeatedly “pinched down” challengers like Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick, limiting their momentum and preserving his tire life.

More thrill is what Hamlin wants for the in-season finale

NASCAR Cup Series drivers will head to Indianapolis Motor Speedway next weekend after Denny Hamlin grabbed his fourth win of the 2025 season at Dover on Sunday. With Ty Dillon and Ty Gibbs set to go up against each other in the final round of the inaugural In-Season Challenge for the $1 million prize, Hamlin has some tips for NASCAR to improve the challenge for next year.

Hamlin can be credited as the inventor of the In-Season Challenge, as he ran a similar ‘bracket challenge’ on his popular podcast Actions Detrimental, a year before NASCAR came up with the idea and made the challenge official. The tournament has affected both on-track driver behavior and fan engagement as a result, but the No. 11 Toyota driver has some pointers for the racing body.

Ahead of the Dover race, Hamlin opined, “If I were in charge, it’s just tweaking the tracks. Even your finale next week, you’re not gonna have a side-by-side battle of your head-to-head guys, just because you’re going to a track that we don’t run side-by-side. It’s just refining your schedule around, if you keep it, make sure you got these five racetracks that could create a compelling thing to watch on TV.”

Touching on the characteristics of the Next Gen car and how racing with this new package has been for drivers following at certain tracks, Hamlin thinks that certain venues, such as Dover and Indianapolis, do not necessarily bring out the best from drivers from an on-track action and passing standpoint. The purpose of the In-Season Challenge is to create more buzz around drivers and highlight underdog stories, such as Ty Dillon. So, an exciting and dynamic on-track battle at an unpredictable racetrack, which offers drivers plenty of overtaking opportunities, should ultimately make for a more compelling product for the fans to watch.