Latest news with #Hamlin
Fox Sports
a day ago
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
NASCAR Power Rankings: Denny Hamlin At No. 1 Is Concrete After Dover Win
Denny Hamlin doesn't just have two wins in his last six starts, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has five top-four finishes in his last seven starts. That type of consistency is hard to beat. And that has put him back atop these power rankings. The race at Dover featured many of these drivers jockeying for spots in the final laps and in overtime, making this list probably even more debatable than normal. As the Cup drivers head to Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend, these are the 10 drivers that seem to have momentum: Dropped out: 9. Ryan Preece (Last Week: 9) On the verge: Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Preece 10. Ty Gibbs (Last Week: Not Ranked) A fifth for Gibbs at Dover was his third consecutive top-10 finish, with two of those being top-five runs. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver is also in the championship for the in-season tournament against Ty Dillon. 9. Tyler Reddick (Last Week: 6) Reddick ran in the top 10 for much of the race at Dover but finished 12th after the two overtimes. That snapped a streak of three top-10 finishes for the 23XI Racing driver. 8. Ryan Blaney (Last Week: 7) Blaney placed eighth at Dover after starting 31st, thanks to the metric when qualifying was canceled. It was a solid day for the Penske driver at a track where it was hard to pass. 7. Alex Bowman (Last Week: 10) Bowman placed fifth in the first stage, second in the second stage and finished third. That's a great day for a driver who doesn't have a win and is fighting for a playoff spot on points. The Hendrick driver has three top-fives in his last six starts. 6. Christopher Bell (Last Week: 5) A couple of spins ruined Bell's day. Actually just the one when battling Hamlin for the lead with less than 10 laps to go. The JGR driver finished 18th. 5. William Byron (Last Week: 3) Byron was a victim of a crash after the late red flag for rain. The 31st-place finish wasn't indicative of the Hendrick driver's day, as he was fourth in the first stage and sixth in the second stage. 4. Kyle Larson (Last Week: 4) Larson finished top 10 in both stages and ended up fourth after having a shot to battle Hamlin for the win in overtime. It was the Hendrick driver's first top five since Michigan, as he may have stopped a slump where he had just one top 10 in the previous four races. 3. Chase Briscoe (Last Week: 8) Briscoe had a shot to win as he battled Hamlin in the second overtime and had fresher tires. But battling a teammate sometimes requires a little more give and a little less take, and Briscoe gave his JGR teammate Hamlin the room he needed and settled for second. 2. Chase Elliott (Last Week: 1) Elliott gave up track position when he pitted for tires after a caution for rain, a decision that ended up not working out as he finished sixth. It was a frustrating end to a race where the Hendrick driver led 238 of the 407 laps. 1. Denny Hamlin (Last Week: 2) Hamlin did a masterful job defending his lead over the final 67 laps, as he earned his fourth win of the season. The JGR driver made it the second consecutive year at Dover where he outdueled drivers in the waning laps. Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass. recommended Item 1 of 2 Get more from the NASCAR Cup Series Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
TimesLIVE
2 days ago
- Automotive
- TimesLIVE
NASCAR updates rule book to protect 23XI and FRM entries
NASCAR has reportedly changed its rule book, likely in response to the latest ruling in the antitrust lawsuit by 23XI and Front Row Motorsports, ensuring the two teams will not miss any races as open teams. 23XI and Front Row Motorsports lost their charters after their suit against the NASCAR charter system earlier this year. A US district judge denied them a restraining order last week, leaving the teams reliant on qualifying for each individual race. However, the judge left the door open, saying if either team were in danger of missing a race due to field size, they could reapply for a temporary restraining order (TRO) as that could fit the definition of "irreparable harm" needed for a TRO, which would give the teams their charters back. "NASCAR, at its sole discretion, may elect to limit the number of entries for a race to 40. In such instances, open teams will be determined based on team owner points standings," the rule reads. Another update to the rule book states: "Up to six open teams will be eligible for starting grid positions based on the highest ranked team owner points standings." The two teams competed as open entries in the Cup Series last weekend at Dover Motor Speedway, with 23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin winning the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400. Hamlin announced to reporters at Dover that "all will be exposed" when the parties' trial is scheduled to begin on December 1. "All I can tell you, and this will be my blanket answer for all questions about this, is that if you want answers and you want to understand why this is all happening, come December 1, you'll get the answer you're looking for," Hamlin said. "All will be exposed."
Newsweek
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Newsweek
Denny Hamlin Does a 'Dover CEO' Coldplay KissCam Pose After NASCAR Victory
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin has shared a photo of himself on X, mimicking Astronomer CEO Andy Byron by hugging the Monster Mile trophy after his Cup Series win at Dover. Hamlin got in on the trending moment sweeping social media after Byron was reportedly spotted hugging the head of human resources, Kristin Cabot, on the KissCam during Coldplay's concert. The pair did not want their alleged affair to be made public. However, their reaction to being featured on the KissCam caused a great stir, making headlines worldwide. The Cup victory was Hamlin's 58th so far, which arrived after an interesting battle in the last leg of the race with Chase Briscoe, who finished second. The race was red-flagged for an hour due to heavy rain, following which, Briscoe added significant pressure on Hamlin during the overtime restarts. However, he finished behind Hamlin by a margin of 0.310s. Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Progressive Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover Motor Speedway on July 20, 2025 in Dover, Delaware. Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Progressive Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover Motor Speedway on July 20, 2025 in Dover, decided to have some fun after winning the Dover Cup race, mimicking the pose that went viral recently. He wrote in the caption, "Dover's CEO." Many fans have reacted to the post that received over 4,500 likes. Some comments are quoted below: This fan said it: "That's it, the meme is officially over." That's it, the meme is officially over 🤣 — SteelHorseLive (@SteelHorseLive) July 21, 2025 A compliment for the race win: "That's awesome. You drove a fantastic race. Good job." That's awesome. You drove a fantastic race. Good job. — Dr. Claude allain (@Claudeallain5) July 21, 2025 Some more praise: "Say what you will about Denny but damn dude just gets better with time. Dude controlled the race and knows how to drive this gen 7." Say what you will about Denny but damn dude just gets better with time. Dude controlled the race and knows how to drive this gen 7 — Seth Harwell (@The_SethHarwell) July 21, 2025 This is a good point: "Where's coldplay when you need them?" where's coldplay when you need them? — Jacob Morgan (@Jacobdean1342) July 21, 2025 Hamlin acknowledged after the race that he had shifted his driving style for Dover after being inspired by Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex. He said: "Well, it's twofold. There's two things. One is obviously my driving. I've talked about that, changing my style to more of a Martin Truex and Jimmie Johnson style. "I just studied some of the greats here. I was very fortunate to have Martin Truex as a teammate. Jimmie Johnson, watching him win (11) times here. You learn from the greats and you change your game to match it, you have success like this. "The other is focusing on what I need to tell the team to make the car better, identifying where I'm losing time, then focusing on what I need to tell them how I can go faster in that section of the racetrack. Just try not to get caught up too much in... "NASCAR is an emotional game where you really kind of get caught up in shit that doesn't matter. So I just try to look at it from a very straightforward point of view, numbers point of view. "Find out where I'm bad, analyse what I'm doing, analyse the best, then figure out how I can go faster like them, then give that information to the team. "It typically takes me a little bit longer to give the team the feedback that they're needing because I like to analyse it, make sure it's right, before I tell them. But it's just changing my mentality on that process and how I'm doing it." Hamlin became the 19th Cup Series driver to win three times at Dover after his victory on Sunday.
Washington Post
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Washington Post
Denny Hamlin continues climb in NASCAR's career wins list. With 60 in sight, how far can he go?
DOVER, Del. — Denny Hamlin has stood his ground that wins — enough of them to soon earn his place inside NASCAR's career top-10 list — matter more to his legacy than a championship . Easy to say, of course, with 58 race victories to zero titles. The 44-year-old Hamlin, still driving the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing as he's done since his rookie season in 2006, is motivated to reach the top 10 this season over the final 15 races of the Cup season. Kevin Harvick is 10th on the career list with 60 and Kyle Busch, still active with Richard Childress Racing, is ninth with 63, giving Hamlin realistic numbers to shoot for the rest of the season. Best to take advantage at tracks where he's had success, such as Dover Motor Speedway, where he won Sunday for the second straight year and third time overall, compared with a track like this weekend's race on the Indianapolis oval, where Hamlin is 0 for 16. 'I don't think I've ever wanted to go back to back so bad,' Hamlin said of Dover. '(Indy's) a track that I've just come so fricking close to winning. I just want to cross off all the major racetracks on our schedule.' Hamlin is a driver who thrives in the chaos like few others — if any can — in the series. His win at Dover came days after the race team he owns with Michael Jordan suffered a setback in its court fight with NASCAR . He insisted ahead of the race that the legal issues never caused a distraction for him in the race car, then proved it on the mile concrete track with a series-best fourth win of the season. Maybe more dark clouds — like the ones that opened up Sunday, causing a rain delay just laps ahead of the scheduled finish — can fuel Hamlin at Indy. 'All I can hope is that something happens this week that derails everything and then I'll do better,' Hamlin said. Hamlin then turned to a NASCAR employee and cracked, 'Maybe it'll come from them.' Can Hamlin realistically get to 60 in 2025? He won eight times in 2010, six times in 2019 and seven in 2020, all totals that would get him to 60 this year. 'When you get him in a situation where he's got the ball in his hands and it's time to go win the race, he finds a way to do that most times,' crew chief Chris Gayle said. It's a fitting analogy for a race team owned by a former NFL coach. At his pace, Hamlin remains a contender to cash in this November at Phoenix Raceway and win his first NASCAR championship — even if he lost out on the $1 million prize in the series' first In-season challenge. The idea for the challenge was largely championed by Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner who floated the idea of a midseason tournament on his 'Actions Detrimental' podcast. When NASCAR bought into the idea and announced the creation of the tournament last year, Hamlin called the tournament on social media 'such a win for our sport and drivers.' He jokingly added, 'I will collect my 1M royalty next season.' Hamlin earned the No. 1 seed — and was promptly eliminated in the first race by Ty Dillon, the No. 32 seed. Dillon faces Ty Gibbs next week at Indianapolis to decide the first winner of the tournament. Hamlin said the five-race, bracket-style tournament overall was a success — but not without a few kinks. Some of the seeding was off, such as Shane van Gisbergen not qualifying for the field, then ripping off consecutive wins on the Chicago street race and Sonoma Raceway during the tournament races. And sure, everyone loves a Cinderella in March. But two in July isn't necessarily making the tournament the NASCAR story of the summer. 'I think it has been unfortunate, right, you probably had a lot of the top seeds get knocked out pretty early in it, but overall, I thought the implementation of it has been good,' Hamlin said. The other side of the argument is this: Would any fan or media outlet really care about a pair of winless drivers such as Gibbs (the sixth seed) or Dillon at this point of the season without $1 million at stake? 'For a team like us, at this point in the season, we're not exactly where we want to be yet, but we're trending in a good direction,' Dillon said on TNT. 'Our story doesn't get told in years past. It's mainly the guys trying to fight for the points position. It's the guys running up front, trying to win the race. But our story and our growth in the year stops getting told. I'm grateful we've been able to show our personality as a team.' Unlike the All-Star race where the winner pockets $1 million, the driver with the best finish earns the cash prize, a ring, jackets and a trophy. Dillon had luck on his side during his run, with his lone top-10 finish coming in the first race in Atlanta. He advanced in that race after Hamlin crashed out and finished 31st. Dillon twice has finished 20th, including at Dover. He has a best finish of 13th in five career races on the Indy oval. Gibbs, the grandson of team owner and football and NASCAR Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs, and Dillon have failed to win in a combined 374 Cup races. Dillon has only two career top-five finishes in a career that dates to 2014. The 22-year-old Gibbs has a much better pedigree, winning the 2022 Xfinity Series title, a series in which he was a 12-time winner. He has six top 10s already this season and could make NASCAR's playoffs on points. Gibbs has three straight top 10s in the tournament, including a fifth-place finish at Dover. Gibbs finished 23rd on the Indy oval last season. He's done enough to impress his grandfather. 'There's some people there that we got off to a terrible start, it was awful, (but) I had people on that group that came to me encouraging me, ideas for me, after it. I think they care for Ty. It just was a huge deal,' the 84-year-old Gibbs said. 'This sport will really measure you. But those guys have fought back.' ___ AP auto racing:
Hamilton Spectator
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Hamilton Spectator
Denny Hamlin continues climb in NASCAR's career wins list. With 60 in sight, how far can he go?
DOVER, Del. (AP) — Denny Hamlin has stood his ground that wins — enough of them to soon earn his place inside NASCAR's career top-10 list — matter more to his legacy than a championship. Easy to say, of course, with 58 race victories to zero titles. The 44-year-old Hamlin, still driving the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing as he's done since his rookie season in 2006, is motivated to reach the top 10 this season over the final 15 races of the Cup season. Kevin Harvick is 10th on the career list with 60 and Kyle Busch, still active with Richard Childress Racing, is ninth with 63, giving Hamlin realistic numbers to shoot for the rest of the season. Best to take advantage at tracks where he's had success, such as Dover Motor Speedway, where he won Sunday for the second straight year and third time overall, compared with a track like this weekend's race on the Indianapolis oval, where Hamlin is 0 for 16. 'I don't think I've ever wanted to go back to back so bad,' Hamlin said of Dover. '(Indy's) a track that I've just come so fricking close to winning. I just want to cross off all the major racetracks on our schedule.' Hamlin is a driver who thrives in the chaos like few others — if any can — in the series. His win at Dover came days after the race team he owns with Michael Jordan suffered a setback in its court fight with NASCAR . He insisted ahead of the race that the legal issues never caused a distraction for him in the race car, then proved it on the mile concrete track with a series-best fourth win of the season. Maybe more dark clouds — like the ones that opened up Sunday, causing a rain delay just laps ahead of the scheduled finish — can fuel Hamlin at Indy. 'All I can hope is that something happens this week that derails everything and then I'll do better,' Hamlin said. Hamlin then turned to a NASCAR employee and cracked, 'Maybe it'll come from them.' Can Hamlin realistically get to 60 in 2025? He won eight times in 2010, six times in 2019 and seven in 2020, all totals that would get him to 60 this year. 'When you get him in a situation where he's got the ball in his hands and it's time to go win the race, he finds a way to do that most times,' crew chief Chris Gayle said. It's a fitting analogy for a race team owned by a former NFL coach. At his pace, Hamlin remains a contender to cash in this November at Phoenix Raceway and win his first NASCAR championship — even if he lost out on the $1 million prize in the series' first In-season challenge. $1 million is on the line The idea for the challenge was largely championed by Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner who floated the idea of a midseason tournament on his 'Actions Detrimental' podcast. When NASCAR bought into the idea and announced the creation of the tournament last year, Hamlin called the tournament on social media 'such a win for our sport and drivers.' He jokingly added, 'I will collect my 1M royalty next season.' Hamlin earned the No. 1 seed — and was promptly eliminated in the first race by Ty Dillon, the No. 32 seed. Dillon faces Ty Gibbs next week at Indianapolis to decide the first winner of the tournament. Was the In-season challenge a success? Hamlin said the five-race, bracket-style tournament overall was a success — but not without a few kinks. Some of the seeding was off, such as Shane van Gisbergen not qualifying for the field, then ripping off consecutive wins on the Chicago street race and Sonoma Raceway during the tournament races. And sure, everyone loves a Cinderella in March. But two in July isn't necessarily making the tournament the NASCAR story of the summer. 'I think it has been unfortunate, right, you probably had a lot of the top seeds get knocked out pretty early in it, but overall, I thought the implementation of it has been good,' Hamlin said. The other side of the argument is this: Would any fan or media outlet really care about a pair of winless drivers such as Gibbs (the sixth seed) or Dillon at this point of the season without $1 million at stake? 'For a team like us, at this point in the season, we're not exactly where we want to be yet, but we're trending in a good direction,' Dillon said on TNT. 'Our story doesn't get told in years past. It's mainly the guys trying to fight for the points position. It's the guys running up front, trying to win the race. But our story and our growth in the year stops getting told. I'm grateful we've been able to show our personality as a team.' Unlike the All-Star race where the winner pockets $1 million, the driver with the best finish earns the cash prize, a ring, jackets and a trophy. How they fared Dillon had luck on his side during his run, with his lone top-10 finish coming in the first race in Atlanta. He advanced in that race after Hamlin crashed out and finished 31st. Dillon twice has finished 20th, including at Dover. He has a best finish of 13th in five career races on the Indy oval. Gibbs, the grandson of team owner and football and NASCAR Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs, and Dillon have failed to win in a combined 374 Cup races. Dillon has only two career top-five finishes in a career that dates to 2014. The 22-year-old Gibbs has a much better pedigree, winning the 2022 Xfinity Series title, a series in which he was a 12-time winner. He has six top 10s already this season and could make NASCAR's playoffs on points. Gibbs has three straight top 10s in the tournament, including a fifth-place finish at Dover. Gibbs finished 23rd on the Indy oval last season. He's done enough to impress his grandfather. 'There's some people there that we got off to a terrible start, it was awful, (but) I had people on that group that came to me encouraging me, ideas for me, after it. I think they care for Ty. It just was a huge deal,' the 84-year-old Gibbs said. 'This sport will really measure you. But those guys have fought back.' ___ AP auto racing:
