DOVER, Del. — Denny Hamlin waited out a one-hour red-flag delay, won three restarts on older tires inside of 10 laps to go, and took the overtime checkers in Sunday’s rain-interrupted AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover Motor Speedway.

In the second overtime, Hamlin lined up beside Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe, who was on much fresher tires. The Toyotas made contact coming to the white, allowing Hamlin’s No. 11 to nose ahead and beat Briscoe’s No. 19 by 0.31 seconds for his series-leading fourth victory.

Hamlin, who led 67 laps, also fended off teammate Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson in late restarts — in regulation with eight laps left and the first overtime, respectively — to help him repeat at Dover and give Toyota its third straight win there.

Alex Bowman, Larson and Ty Gibbs completed the top five.

In the In-Season Challenge semifinal, NASCAR’s version of the Final Four, Gibbs (fifth place) beat Tyler Reddick (12th), while Ty Dillon (20th) topped John Hunter Nemechek (21st).

Gibbs and Dillon will square off Sunday at Indianapolis for the $1 million top prize given to the winner of the 32-car tournament.

The first stage, a 120-lapper around the one-mile concrete track, was all about Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, who managed to beat Bell as the segment ended and hold on to the point.

Following that pair were Hamlin, William Byron and a fast-moving Bowman, who sliced through the top 10 in Stage 1’s late laps.

Elliott’s day turned sour when his Chevy fell off the jacks while being serviced under green on Lap 186. After the stops cycled, Bell was out front with Hamlin over three seconds in arrears.

In his No. 20 Toyota, Bell won Stage 2 and told his JGR team to leave the car as it was as he headed to pit road. Bowman and Hamlin crossed under the checkers for second and third in bonus points, respectively.

However, Bell spun on his own while leading on the Lap 260 restart and racing with Elliott, hitting nothing and forcing the field to split as his JGR ride slid down the high banks.

NASCAR puts brakes on

2026 Chicago Street Race

The Chicago Street Race will not be on the NASCAR calendar in 2026, officials announced Friday.

NASCAR and city officials are working toward a return to the Windy City in 2027.

“Following the success of the first three years, the Chicago Street Race will hit pause in 2026 to afford us the time necessary to work collaboratively with the City of Chicago to explore a new potential date and to develop a plan that further optimizes operational efficiencies, with a goal to return to the streets of Chicago in 2027,” the event’s social media account posted on X.

“Together, we have built and grown an expanded community of fans that consists of longtime NASCAR enthusiasts and first-time racegoers from around the globe, and for that, we are immensely grateful.”

From 2023-25, drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series raced along a 12-turn, 2.2 mile course from Columbus Drive to DuSable Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Avenue.

Shane van Gisbergen of New Zealand dominated the Chicago streets, winning the Cup Series races in 2023 and 2025 and the Xfinity races in 2024 and 2025.

DOVER, Del. — Denny Hamlin waited out a one-hour red-flag delay, won three restarts on older tires inside of 10 laps to go, and took the overtime checkers in Sunday’s rain-interrupted AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover Motor Speedway.

In the second overtime, Hamlin lined up beside Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe, who was on much fresher tires. The Toyotas made contact coming to the white, allowing Hamlin’s No. 11 to nose ahead and beat Briscoe’s No. 19 by 0.31 seconds for his series-leading fourth victory.

Hamlin, who led 67 laps, also fended off teammate Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson in late restarts — in regulation with eight laps left and the first overtime, respectively — to help him repeat at Dover and give Toyota its third straight win there.

Alex Bowman, Larson and Ty Gibbs completed the top five.

In the In-Season Challenge semifinal, NASCAR’s version of the Final Four, Gibbs (fifth place) beat Tyler Reddick (12th), while Ty Dillon (20th) topped John Hunter Nemechek (21st).

Gibbs and Dillon will square off Sunday at Indianapolis for the $1 million top prize given to the winner of the 32-car tournament.

The first stage, a 120-lapper around the one-mile concrete track, was all about Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, who managed to beat Bell as the segment ended and hold on to the point.

Following that pair were Hamlin, William Byron and a fast-moving Bowman, who sliced through the top 10 in Stage 1’s late laps.

Elliott’s day turned sour when his Chevy fell off the jacks while being serviced under green on Lap 186. After the stops cycled, Bell was out front with Hamlin over three seconds in arrears.

In his No. 20 Toyota, Bell won Stage 2 and told his JGR team to leave the car as it was as he headed to pit road. Bowman and Hamlin crossed under the checkers for second and third in bonus points, respectively.

However, Bell spun on his own while leading on the Lap 260 restart and racing with Elliott, hitting nothing and forcing the field to split as his JGR ride slid down the high banks.

NASCAR puts brakes on

2026 Chicago Street Race

The Chicago Street Race will not be on the NASCAR calendar in 2026, officials announced Friday.

NASCAR and city officials are working toward a return to the Windy City in 2027.

“Following the success of the first three years, the Chicago Street Race will hit pause in 2026 to afford us the time necessary to work collaboratively with the City of Chicago to explore a new potential date and to develop a plan that further optimizes operational efficiencies, with a goal to return to the streets of Chicago in 2027,” the event’s social media account posted on X.

“Together, we have built and grown an expanded community of fans that consists of longtime NASCAR enthusiasts and first-time racegoers from around the globe, and for that, we are immensely grateful.”

From 2023-25, drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series raced along a 12-turn, 2.2 mile course from Columbus Drive to DuSable Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Avenue.

Shane van Gisbergen of New Zealand dominated the Chicago streets, winning the Cup Series races in 2023 and 2025 and the Xfinity races in 2024 and 2025.

Pato O’Ward wins in Toronto,

inches toward Alex Palou in season race

TORONTO — Mexico’s Pato O’Ward eked out his second win in three weeks on Sunday at the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto, keeping alive his underdog chances to win the season championship.

Alex Palou rode a dominant start to the season to a 129-point lead in the points race, the largest margin this deep in a season since IndyCar began using the scoring system. After the Spaniard finished 12th in Toronto, O’Ward sliced that deficit to 99 with four races to go.

O’Ward started back in 10th but led 30 out of 90 laps in his No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet and beat the Netherlands’ Rinus VeeKay by 0.4843 seconds. Kyffin Simpson of the Cayman Islands was third, his first podium finish in two IndyCar seasons.

“I knew I had a great car under me to race with and the guys nailed it on the strategy,” O’Ward said in his post-race interview.

That strategy was for O’Ward to start the race on his alternate set of tires before moving to his primary tires early on Lap 3.

“I was feeling so good on the (primary) tires all weekend really. We were just struggling to get the alternates to work in qualifying. Sadly, that’s the one you need to transfer,” O’Ward said.

Palou, conversely, started on his primary tires from the No. 2 position. The seven-time winner this year led 37 laps but faded down the stretch.

“Well, I chose the strategy, so that’s what we did wrong today,” Palou said. “I was pushing for that strategy. I thought it was going to give us the best opportunity to win. I wanted to be up front trying to avoid being trapped in traffic.”

Simpson was the biggest mover of the day after starting the race 13th.

“It was a crazy race,” Simpson said. “So many ups and downs. At one point we thought we were in the worst position, and then very quickly it turned into one of the best positions.”