Hamlin Dominant in First Half of Dover Doubleheader

Denny Hamlin dominated the Drydene 311 in the first half of NASCAR’s doubleheader from Dover International Speedway on Saturday afternoon.

Hamlin led a race-high 115 laps throughout the race, but had to fight his way back to the lead in the closing laps.  Hamlin was second as his teammate Martin Truex Jr. struggled in lapped traffic.

Hamlin took the lead with less than 10 laps to go, and he pulled away from Truex over the final eight laps.

After winning his sixth race of the season, Hamlin said he was happy to get back to victory lane after falling short the past few weeks.

“I’ve been running down the leaders these last few weeks but I haven’t been able to get there,” Hamlin said.  “Proud of this whole FedEx team; this Camry was fast today.  Just unbelievable at how good it was.”

The victory was Hamlin’s first at Dover, and he said his team is locked in as the Playoffs are set to begin in two weeks.

“Working as hard as I ever have, and I can’t complain about anything right now,” Hamlin said.  “I’ve just got faith when it comes down to it.  On that last run, when he says ‘go get it,’ I go get it.”

Truex inherited the lead after pit stops cycled around, but he was unable to hold off Hamlin after getting hung up in lapped traffic.

Truex said the combination of lapped traffic and his car’s poor handling made it hard to race Hamlin at the end of the race.

“I think if the 10 [of Aric Almirola] wasn’t pinning it on the bottom in front of me I’d have been fine,” Truex said.  “In the end, we just weren’t good enough.  Nothing I could do, just out-of-control sideways.”

Unofficial results:

1. Denny Hamlin
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Kyle Busch
4. Kevin Harvick
5. Chase Elliott
6. Clint Bowyer
7. Jimmie Johnson
8. Joey Logano
9. Brad Keselowski
10. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
11. Cole Custer
12. Erik Jones
13. Tyler Reddick
14. Ryan Blaney
15. Austin Dillon
16. Chris Buescher
17. Aric Almirola
18. Ty Dillon
19. Ryan Newman
20. Matt DiBenedetto
21. Alex Bowman
22. Christopher Bell
23. Matt Kenseth
24. John Hunter Nemechek
25. Ryan Preece
26. Michael McDowell
27. Bubba Wallace
28. William Byron
29. Corey LaJoie
30. Daniel Suarez
31. JJ Yeley
32. Josh Bilicki
33. Quin Houff
34. Timmy Hill
35. Joey Gase
36. Brennan Poole
37. Garrett Smithley
38. BJ McLeod
39. Reed Sorenson
40. Kurt Busch