Denny Hamlin survives rain delay, overtime finish to win for 2nd straight year at Dover

Denny Hamlin makes a pit stop during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Dover Motor Speedway Sunday July in Dover Del AP Photo Derik Hamilton AP Derik Hamilton Denny Hamlin makes a pit stop during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Dover Motor Speedway Sunday July in Dover Del AP Photo Derik Hamilton AP Derik Hamilton DOVER Del AP Denny Hamlin balked when a surfboard he was questioned to sign for charity was placed on the floor At his age Hamlin cracked he might not be able to get back up The -year-old driver had similar aging concerns a night earlier when the picture on the TV he watched as he started to doze off seemed a bit fuzzy I m not losing my eyesight am I Hamlin commented Hamlin s vision was on point Sunday at Dover his sights set firmly on preeminence lane Hamlin can eliminate distractions and succeed like minimal drivers in the series can can do He shook off a setback in his court battle with NASCAR shrugged off old tire concerns once he took a late lead ahead of a rain delay and survived a late charge from his teammate to go back-to-back at Dover Motor Speedway for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver s series-best fourth success of the season I just love that I m able to still do it at a high level Hamlin noted Every morning when I wake up I just hope I still got what I had the previous evening Hamlin won in the No Toyota for the second straight time at Dover to add to wins this season at Martinsville Darlington and Michigan Hamlin has NASCAR Cup Series victories leaving him two short of Kevin Harvick for th on the career list The veteran Virginia driver might hit that mark this season as he chases his first career Cup championship Hamlin is on NASCAR s short list of greatest drivers to never win a championship He won t let the void on an otherwise stellar resume full of Hall of Fame credentials define how he feels about his career Hamlin says it s trophies not titles not he celebrates the largest part If we do we do If we don t we don t Hamlin declared I care about wins I want more trophies more trophies more trophies When I m done I want to be in the list of that top- all-time winners That will mean more than any other accomplishment Hamlin took the checkered flag days after he suffered a setback in court with his own XI Racing company s federal antitrust suit against NASCAR On Thursday a federal judge rejected a request from XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to continue racing with charters while they battle NASCAR in court meaning their six cars will race as open entries this weekend at Dover next week at Indianapolis and perhaps longer than that in a move the teams say would put them at danger of going out of business Hamlin vowed this weekend all will be exposed if the event goes to its scheduled Dec trial date The courtroom drama hasn t affected Hamlin s performance on the track Hamlin held off JGR teammate Chase Briscoe for the accomplishment Hendrick Motorsports drivers took the next two spots with Alex Bowman third and Kyle Larson fourth I thought I did everything I needed to Briscoe stated I thought I had him there for a second I wish the Camry the back was about inches shorter I was so close to clearing him I just couldn t do it Obviously racing a teammate I desired to make sure at least a JGR car won Hamlin held off Kyle Larson down the stretch last season to earn the second of his three career wins at the Monster Mile The first July Cup race at Dover since started with steamy weather and drivers battled the conditions inside the car during a relatively clean race until rain fell late and red-flagged the race with laps left Hamlin announced the during the break changed his firesuit temperatures inside the car soared to degrees and sweat kept dripping inside his visor He also returned to the car after the -minute delay with old tires Hamlin who was the betting favorite to win per BETMGM Sportsbook - had enough to win on cool tires at Dover and park the Toyota in win lane There was never any real consideration to pit with the lead for fresh tires We need wins crew chief Chris Gayle explained How can we manufacture particular way to give ourselves more opportunity for that to happen Might not pan out but we definitely weren t going to do it doing the same thing as everybody else That was our train of thought there and thankfully it worked out and we held on He became the th Cup driver to win three times at Dover and the th driver to win consecutive races on the mile concrete track I just studied chosen of the greats here Hamlin stated I was very fortunate to have Martin Truex as a teammate Jimmie Johnson watching him win times here You learn from the greats and you change your challenge to match it you have success like this In-season challenge The Tys have it in NASCAR It s Ty Gibbs vs Ty Dillon next week at Indianapolis to decide the first winner in NASCAR s million mid-season tournament NASCAR seeded drivers for the first In-season Challenge a five-race bracket-style tournament that mirrors the NCAA basketball tournaments Both drivers are winless and Dillon made it as the No seed Gibbs finished fifth Sunday for JGR John Hunter Nemechek and Tyler Reddick were eliminated Logano s th Joey Logano finished th for Gang Penske in his th career start Logano has made every start since the straight putting him within striking distance of Jeff Gordon s Cup record of straight starts Logano was years month days old when he hits No on Sunday making him the youngest driver to reach that milestone He topped seven-time NASCAR champion and Hall of Famer Richard Petty by six months Petty is the only driver to have won his th start Up next It s off to Indianapolis Motor Speedway where Kyle Larson won last season on the oval after a four-year break on the road program AP auto racing https apnews com hub auto-racing Source