NASCAR: Denny Hamlin takes home Cup Series-best third victory of 2020

Denny Hamlin swept all three stages of the Dixie Vodka 400 en route to the 40th victory of his NASCAR Cup Series career.

Denny Hamlin is giving an all-new definition to “Florida Man”.

Nearly four months after his victory at the season-opening Daytona 500, Hamlin pulled off a clean sweep at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota won all three stages en route to victory, his third of the 2020 season, at the Dixie Vodka 500. It’s Hamlin’s third victory at Homestead and the 40th of his Cup Series career. He joins 19 other drivers in that exclusive realm. Every member of the club has reached the NASCAR Hall of Fame with the exception of Hamlin and the three other active drivers (Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick). Hamling previously took home the Toyota 500 at Darlington Raceway last month.

Weather threatened to end Hamlin’s dominance before it truly began. Rain showers delayed the start of the race by over an hour before a brief five-lap run that was stopped by lightning. Further strikes led to a delay of over two hours and one more awaited the drivers at lap 34.

Once the skies became relatively clear, Hamlin took over. He led a race-high 137 laps and became the first 2020 driver to take all three stages in his victory trek. The winning move came on lap 238 of 267 when he took advantage of pesky lapped traffic in the form of Joey Logano to pass Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet. Elliott kept pace with Hamlin for a majority of the final laps, but an overzealous challenge at the lead in the last stanzas forced him to settle for the runner-up spot. Hamlin won the race by an 0.895-second margin and replicated Michael Jordan’s famous shrug after exiting the No. 11 Toyota for his postrace interview with Fox. The Jordan Brand is one of No. 11’s sponsors and Hamlin later revealed that the NBA legend was among the first to congratulate him on his victory.

The victory was the finishing touch on a joyful return for Hamlin’s crew chief Chris Gabehart. Hamlin’s second-year pit boss was suspended for four races when ballasts fell out of the No. 11 at the start of the Coca-Cola 600 on May 24 in Charlotte. The two have since united for nine wins in 48 races together and collaborated on a fourth-place finish in last season’s championship standings.

Elliott settled for second-place, his third top pair placing over the last seven races. Ryan Blaney also continued a hot streak in third (his fifth top-four finish over the last six events) while rookie Tyler Reddick came in a career-best fourth. Aric Almirola rounded out the top five, his first such finish of the season.

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action next Sunday afternoon for the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (3 p.m. ET, Fox).

Race Notes

• Spectators returned to the track on Sunday, as 1,000 South Florida servicemen and women and first responders were welcomed into the grandstands. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was also in attendance and opened the race by waving the green flag prior to the first lap. Next weekend’s event at Talladega, Alabama will up the ante with 5,000 fans in attendance.
• New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara was also in attendance, welcomed as a guest by NASCAR. Kamara was adorned in gear supporting Bubba Wallace, who drove the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet to a 13th-place finish.
• Back in March, Hamlin also won the Dixie Vodka 150 at a virtual recreation of Homestead on the iRacing platform. The event was part of the eNASCAR Pro Invitational iRacing Series formed during the coronavirus-induced pause.
• Hamlin is one of three of Homestead Cup Series winners that has yet to win a Cup title, joining Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards (the trio own a combined 77 circuit wins between them). Each of the 11 other winners has won at least one championship on the premier circuit.
• All three NASCAR national series ran races at Homestead this weekend, but, for the first time since 2001, the track will not play host to the circuits’ season finales. Phoenix Raceway will have the honors for the first time in November.
• Sunday was an eventful excursion for Austin Dillon. Hours before the race, Dillon and his wife Whitney welcomed their first child, a son named Ace. Dillon later overcame a pit road penalty to pilot his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to a seventh-place finish.
• Reddick’s fellow Rooke of the Year contender Christopher Bell finished a career-best eighth. The two became the first rookies to finish in the top ten at Homestead since David Ragan did so in 2007.

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags