Denny Hamlin got his third win of 2024 as he held off Kyle Larson on Sunday at Dover.
Hamlin took the lead on lap 329 of the 400-lap race after the final restart and never relinquished it, though Larson gave him a run for the win in the final 15 laps. Larson got within a half-second of Hamlin as the checkered flag approached, but Hamlin kept him at bay by moving up and taking Larson’s line away.
After winning the pole for the race on Saturday, fourth-place finisher Kyle Busch said that NASCAR’s current Cup Series car was better at playing defense than it was at playing offense. Busch’s words were prescient on Sunday as Hamlin was able to blunt Larson’s forward momentum in the corners by driving in the same groove Larson was.
Larson caught Hamlin by moving up toward the wall in the corners of the concrete oval as Hamlin was running the bottom of the track. But Larson’s forward march stopped when Hamlin moved his car off the bottom groove and ahead of Larson.