Denny Hamlin led over half of the Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, running up front for 137 of the 267 laps that made up the race on his way to his third win of the season, most of any driver in the first 12 races of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season. His latest win was the 40th of his Cup Series career and his third win at Homestead-Miami, most of any driver.
“Our car was really good,” Hamlin said. “This is a setup based off of what we had in the fall here last year, going for the championship. Had a strong car all day, obviously, with the laps led and was able to get around Chase (Elliott) there at the end. This whole FedEx team has just done a phenomenal job. This Camry is real special. Have to thank Coca-Cola, Jordan Brand, FedEx and all of our partners. Everyone at JGR for putting together great race cars and keep digging to make ourselves a little bit better.”
Chase Elliott finished second, and Ryan Blaney was third. Rookie Tyler Reddick posted a career-best finish of fourth, and Aric Almirola rounded out the top-five.
“I’m really proud of my Chevy Cares Chevrolet team and the effort we showed today,” Reddick said. “We had really good speed and were able to run up front pretty much all night long. The men and women of RCR and ECR did a great job preparing us with a fast race car to bring down to my favorite track on the circuit. We were able to use that speed to our advantage and race into the top-10 within the first 30 laps, and we were able maintain that track position. We fine-tuned our car from then on out for the rest of the race and tried to make it better to run the fence. It was tough, though, because sometimes the top seam worked better instead of the fence, so figuring out which lane was the best to use at what time was tricky. We got a little too tight by the end of the night to really make the fence work like I wanted, but all in all, it was a solid effort. I’ve won the past two times I’ve come here, granted in the Xfinity Series, but it was so fun to be ripping the fence with three of the best tonight in the NASCAR Cup Series. It was a hard-fought battle and one we can build momentum off of.”
Two rookies were in the top-10 at the checkered flag, as Christopher Bell also posted a career-best finish of eighth.
Sunday night’s race was scheduled as an afternoon event but turned into a nighttime affair after multiple delays. The start of the race was delayed by more than an hour because of rain. After the completion of five laps, the race was delayed by more than two hours because of lightning. The race resumed but was postponed, again, by lighting for over 30 minutes after the completion of 33 laps.
“Once it got going it was nice, but all the starting and stopping for lighting, I understand you have to be safe, but that definitely stinks getting in and out [of the car],” Blaney said. ”I hate it for the fans, too. They come out and want to see a race. At least once we got back going we were able to keep going, which was good, but that’s a little strange.”
Approximately 500 members of the US military, along with family members, were allowed to attend the race. Although, the number in the grandstands was small, Sunday’s race was the first Cup Series race contested in front of an in-person audience since March.
Hamlin was dominant, especially in the tfinal 107 lap stage, usually with Elliott and Blaney trading the second and third positions behind him. Hamlin and Blaney traded the lead back and forth with about 74 laps to go in the 267-lap race, but Hamlin retook command of the top spot, leaving Blaney to, again, swap the second and third positions with Elliott.
Elliott pitted before Hamlin during the final green-flag cycle of the race with about 50 laps remaining. With the extra time on new tires, Elliott was the leader after the cycle of stops completed. With 30 laps to go, Hamlin retook the lead and ran up front for the remainder of the race.
“It seems like the end of these races are Chase’s best suit,” Hamlin said. “I knew that if I was just patient and ran the pace that I wanted and the pace I was comfortable with, we were going to be hard to beat in the long run.”
Hamlin also won the two 80-lap stages. Those stage wins, along with his eventual race win made him the first driver of the season to sweep stages on the way to a race win.
“We’re, obviously, in great position,” Hamlin said. “We gained seven bonus points for the playoffs. The driver gave away one at Bristol, or else we would have four wins right now. I’ll take every win I can; let’s just keep piling them up.”
Hamlin started on the pole, but Joey Logano led the opening lap and ran up front for most of the first 29 laps before being passed by Elliott for the lead on lap 30. Elliott, then, led most of the second half of the first stage until Hamlin took the lead in the closing laps of the first stage.
Logano was among the drivers involved in a multi-car traffic jam on pit road after the final lightning delay. After sustaining damage to his car, he eventually went a lap down. He was involved in an incident with Ryan Newman, bringing out a caution on lap 170.
The caution for the incident between Logano and Newman was one of only two cautions for on-track incidents. The other also involved Newman on lap 21.
Hamlin was the leader for the restart at the beginning of the second stage, but he lost positions to Elliott and Newman on the lap-89 restart. After Elliott led a couple of laps, Blaney took the lead on lap 91. But after a cycle of green-flg pit stops just past lap 120, Hamlin was in front of Blaney after pitting a lap before Blaney during the cycle and maintained the lead to win the second stage at lap 160.
Other top-10 finishers included Kyle Busch in sixth, Austin Dillon in seventh, William Byron in ninth and Brad Keselowski in 10th.
