Entry List : Dover Motor Speedway

• Thursday, July 17th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

From Wine Country to Concrete Canyon: Cup Drivers Face Dover's Demands

After back-to-back road course races, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to the bread-and-butter of its schedule with a visit to the famed one-mile Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 (2 p.m. ET on TNT, HBO Max, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Although Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen shows up at the Monster Mile fresh off two road course trophy hoists – in Chicago and Sonoma – it’s Hendrick Motorsports drivers who remain ranked one-two-three in the series championship driver standings.

What was more than a 60-point advantage for William Byron a month ago, however, is now only 14 points over teammate Chase Elliott as the series returns to its oval roots with this weekend’s race at the Dover mile, followed by the traditional summer-time visit to the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway next week and then the .875-mile Iowa Speedway on Aug. 3.

Elliott is a two-time Dover winner – one of four upcoming tracks where his championship NASCAR Cup Series resume includes multiple wins.

Byron is hoping the ovals restore his regular season championship run. He finished eighth at Sonoma last weekend, ending a season-worst streak of three finishes of 27th or worse. Although Byron hasn’t won previously at Dover, he has three fourth-place finishes in the last five races there and led 193 of the 400 laps in 2023.

Kyle Larson, who sits third in the standings – 44 points behind Byron – is similarly hoping to return to form. He led the championship standings in May, but has had only a single top-10 finish in the last five races (seventh at Mexico City). He is especially good at Dover, however. His 8.19 average finish is second all-time to only the great NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson (8.0). It stands as a good opportunity to regain his mojo.

“Our team could really use a good solid weekend to get back on track,” Larson said.

With only six races remaining before the Playoffs, four drivers remain in the 16-driver Playoff-eligible standings by virtue of points – last year’s regular season champ, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher, Hendrick’s Alex Bowman and Reddick’s teammate Bubba Wallace, who holds only a slight three-point advantage over RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece for that last Playoff position entering this race weekend.

Among those four, only Bowman (2021) has a previous NASCAR Cup Series win at the Monster Mile. Buescher won an Xfinity Series race at the track in 2015 and Reddick won in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series that same year.

“Honestly, I like road courses, but I am happy about returning to an oval,” said Bowman driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. “Dover has always been a place that fits my driving style. It’s fast, it’s technical, and it demands a lot from both the driver and the car. The transitions off the corners are intense, and the concrete surface makes it unlike anywhere else we go. That 2021 win is still one of my favorite moments with this team.”

Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch, who is ranked just behind Preece in the standings (-37 points) is a three-time Dover winner, tops among current fulltime drivers. He has a track record five Xfinity Series and four NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series wins too. And Busch is the two-time defending NASCAR Cup Series race pole-winner with top-10 finishes in two of this last three races at Dover – leading 162 laps in that time.

Busch is coming off back-to-back top-10 finishes at the two road courses, but hasn’t led a lap since May 11 at Kansas Speedway.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin is the defending Dover race winner and the only multi-time winner in the track’s last seven races. He’s had top-four finishes in four of the season’s last six races, including a victory at Michigan in June; his third win of the season which ties him with Larson, his teammate Christopher Bell and Shane van Gisbergen for the most trophies on the year.

Of note. … three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, Team Penske’s Joey Logano, is hoping to claim his first “Monster” NASCAR Cup Series trophy in what will be his 600th career start in the series. The 34-year-old is the youngest person in the sport’s history to reach that milestone. He’s won an amazing four consecutive times in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Dover sweeping the 2012 and 2013 seasons.

The $1 million to-win TNT Sports In-Season Challenge features some odds-defying semifinal pairings this week. The longshot, 32nd ranked Ty Dillon is matched up against the 12th-seed John Hunter Nemechek. Kaulig Racing’s Dillon is looking for his first top-10 finish in what will be his 12th Dover start. Legacy Motor Club’s Nemechek has a best showing of 20th – twice – in three Dover starts.

Reddick and Ty Gibbs will go at it in an all-Toyota match-up on the other side of the bracket. The 23XI Racing’s Reddick has three finishes of 11th or better in his last four Dover races but has never led a lap at the track in the NASCAR Cup Series. He has a couple top-10 showings in the Xfinity Series at the Monster Mile and that 2015 truck series victory.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver Gibbs has 13th and 10th-place showings in his only previous NASCAR Cup Series races at the track but has a fifth-place and third-place finish in two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts.

Winners from the two pairings will race for that million dollar check next week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Practice at Dover is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET Saturday followed by Busch Light Pole Qualifying at 2:45 p.m. ET (TruTV, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Busch is the defending pole-winner.

• Qualifying cancelled due to weather. Start order set by NASCAR rule book.

• Sunday, July 20th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Dover Shake-Up: Hamlin Wins, Elliott Takes Points Lead, Dillon Reaches Final

Denny Hamlin prevailed in Sunday’s EchoPark AutoTrader 400 at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway – a race that featured a 56-minute red flag for rain, late-race strategy decisions, and involved a pair of overtime restarts before the trophy was ultimately settled between a pair of Joe Gibbs Racing teammates.

But the veteran Hamlin got it all right when it mattered most, getting a jump on the field in both overtime restarts and in the end holding off his newest teammate Chase Briscoe who was even on fresher tires. It marks back-to-back wins at the Dover concrete-mile for Hamlin and a NASCAR Cup Series-best fourth victory of 2025.

“Things were going pretty well there before the rain and then obviously had to endure a few restarts there,’’ said a smiling Hamlin, 44, who collected his 58th career victory and first trophy since the birth of his son, Jameson last month. “It was tough, those guys gave me a run for it, no doubt about it.’’

“Winning here at Dover is super special to me,’’ he continued. “This is a place I had not been very good at the first half of my career and then to have back-to-back (wins) here the last couple years is amazing.’’

Briscoe certainly pushed Hamlin on that final two-lap sprint to the checkered flag. The two ran door-to-door on the white flag lap – their cars even making slight contact – before Hamlin’s No. 11 JGR Toyota Camry was able to pull around and clear Briscoe’s car, racing off to a .310-second victory and become only the 13th driver in track history to win consecutive races.

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson finished third and fourth with another JGR driver, Ty Gibbs rounding out the top five.

For most of the day, it looked as if Hendrick’s Chase Elliott would continue a summer hot streak and claim his second race win in the last four weeks. He led a race best 238 of the 407 laps – taking his first stage win of the season and overcoming an early pit road miscue. But he just wasn’t able to challenge Hamlin.

There was some consolation in Elliott’s sixth place finish, however, as it – combined with teammate William Byron’s accident with two laps remining in regulation – now gives Elliott a 17-point championship lead over Byron with five races remaining in the regular season. It’s the first time he’s led the championship this year.

Elliott led so many laps and essentially controlled race pace, but it was a cycle of pit stops that gave Hamlin opportunity out front. He cycled to the lead when Elliott pit for tires during a caution beating his JGR teammate Christopher Bell on a restart with 60 laps remaining. Hamlin held the lead position when the 56-minute red flag came out for rain with 15 laps to go.

And after all that had to hold off Briscoe on consecutive overtime restarts – ultimately leading the final 67 laps.

“I thought I did everything I needed to and thought I had it there for a second,’’ Briscoe said. “I was so close to clearing him and just couldn’t do it. Obviously racing a teammate, I wanted to make sure at least a JGR car won. Honestly it was a great day. We weren’t probably a second place race car, we were probably fifth to 10th place car. Glad we were able to make a good finish out of it.’’

Behind Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top 10.

While the top of the championship standings changed with Elliott taking the lead, the four drivers – Reddick, Bowman, Buescher and Wallace – still chasing a points-position in the 16-driver Playoff remained the same. Wallace’s seventh-place finish gives him a 16-point edge on Ryan Preece for that 16th and final transfer position. Kyle Busch, who finished 11th Sunday, is now 39 points behind Wallace.

The race also set the “In-Season Challenge” championship round next week at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with Gibbs and longshot Ty Dillon advancing to the title round.

Gibbs was paired against Tyler Reddick at Dover and Dillon had to beat John Hunter Nemechek in the other bracket to settle the final two positions for $1 million to-win grand finale of the inaugural incentive program presented by TNT.

In both head-to-head battles, the two drivers ran near each other all afternoon. Gibbs got around Reddick in the closing laps and Dillon benefitted from a “lucky dog” late race pass – he and Nemechek finished 20th and 21st.

“Super cool today, I really appreciate my team.” Gibbs said smiling.

Dillon, who drives the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet was similarly ecstatic for the opportunity. He was seeded 32nd among the 32 drivers to qualify for the In-Season Tournament and had to race past drivers like Hamlin in earlier rounds.

“All respect to John Hunter we ran next to each other all day,’’ a thrilled Dillon said. “Just so grateful to have this opportunity and this is one of the greatest things to happen in my career.”

The NASCAR Cup Series moves to one of its premier showcases, the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway for next Sunday’s Brickyard 400 (2 p.m. ET, TNT, HBO Max, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Larson is the defending race winner.

• Drivers Entered: 37
• Laps Scheduled: 400
• Laps Actual: 407 - NASCAR OVERTIME!
• Margin of Victory: 0.310 Seconds
• Time of Race: 3 Hours 40 Minutes 18 Seconds
• Average Speed: 110.849
• Cautions: 8 for 50 laps
• Lead Changes: 13
• Green Flag Passes: 2,309 (6.5 passes per green flag lap)

• Dover Motor Speedway
• Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400
• Race Winner: Denny Hamlin
• Age: 44
• Team : No 11 - Progressive Toyota
• Owner: Joe Gibbs
• Crew Chief: Chris Gayle
• Denny Hamlin won the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400, his 58th victory in 706 Cup Series races
• This is his fourth victory and 11th top-10 finish in 2025
• This is his third victory and 17th top-10 finish in 35 races at Dover Motor Speedway
• Chase Briscoe (second) posted his first top-10 finish in five races at Dover Motor Speedway It is his 10th top-10 finish in 2025
• Alex Bowman (third) posted his seventh top-10 finish in 14 races at Dover Motor Speedway
• Riley Herbst (24th) was the highest finishing rookie