Denny Hamlin fought hard with older tires to take a hard-fought win at the Monster Mile. It marked his fourth of the season and his second Dover triumph in a row. But in the background was constant chatter about what could have been. Chase Elliott led the most laps and won stage 1. Christopher Bell led 67 laps and won stage 2, but suffered a late spin while fighting for the lead with Hamlin. That left one more Joe Gibbs Racing teammate to give the fight to Hamlin.
Now, it’s worth noting that Dover has never been a friendly track to Hamlin in years past, often exposing his weaknesses, but recent seasons have told a new story. A win in 2020 and a win in 2024, along with multiple top-10 finishes since 2015, have turned the narrative on his concrete class. But while he was poised to win again in 2025, Chase Briscoe could have easily flipped the script.
Did Chase Briscoe go too easy on Denny Hamlin?
As the race resumed following a 56-minute rain delay, it was clear that Denny Hamlin was the car to beat. After Bell spun out, it set up a restart with Chase Briscoe. Briscoe had fresher tires while Hamlin, who chose not to pit earlier in the race, was running with fading rubber. However, his sublime defense allowed him to maintain his lead even when Briscoe was able to go half a car length ahead. While praise is certainly for Denny, some feel that Briscoe raced him extra clean, being his JGR teammate.
Chase even admitted this, saying, “I didn’t want to wreck him. But certainly, if it was another car, I could have just opened my hands up, and I would have won the race. It had been dirty, but I could have won the race.” Now this stirred up conversation, and Bubba Wallace‘s spotter, Freddie Kraft, didn’t mince words, breaking down the closing laps at Dover on the Door Bumper Clear podcast. According to Kraft, Chase Briscoe had every opportunity to force Hamlin off his line and potentially take the win, but chose a different path. “I thought that the 19 was a lot nicer to Denny than Denny might have been to him if the roles were reversed. A half a car…” Kraft observed, noting that Briscoe held position but refrained from pushing Hamlin up the track, a move many would consider fair game in the heat of a closing duel.
Pressed on his reasoning, Kraft added, “I’ve seen Denny race before. But [Chase Briscoe] had half a car on him going into three, and chose not to take [Denny Hamlin] away up the hill like some other guys might do. So credit to Chase for that… I wonder how much it played into it that the 19 already has a win. Because if he didn’t have a win, it probably would have been a lot more aggressive.”
The No. 19 was not under the same playoff pressure as earlier in the year, as his win in Pocono has locked him in, freeing Briscoe from desperation moves. Yet Kraft’s point goes deeper, implying that in NASCAR, memory and reputation matter. By not forcing the issue, the No. 19 displayed a kind of respect that can shape how teammates race each other, not only at Dover but in future title-changing scenarios. However, would Denny Hamlin do the same? Well, Denny is on the record saying, “There is nobody I hate seeing win more than my teammate,” and history doesn’t favor him either.
An incident from 2010 at the All-Star sprint race at Charlotte Motor Speedway comes to mind. In the closing laps, Hamlin was leading while Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch and Hendrick Motorsports #48 Jimmie Johnson were tailing behind. Busch made a move to go outside Hamlin, and the latter squeezed him up into the wall! This was not a points race, just for a million dollars, and Hamlin was racing hard.
Busch was disappointed by Hamlin’s move, and parked his wrecked racecar behind Denny’s after the race and waited for him in the trailer. However, team owner Joe Gibbs was quick to sort things out between his hot-headed drivers. Hamlin told the media later that week, “I’m not going to put too much effort in [getting along], to be honest to you. Kyle brings this stuff up himself, and he gets mad at the media for asking him questions about his blow-ups.” Well, their rivalry has simmered since then, as both transitioned into fatherhood, with Busch winning championships as the black hat of NASCAR, a role that Denny now owns.
It’s clear that Hamlin would probably not have gone easy on Briscoe, but given the latter’s resurgence in 2025, Briscoe would probably go hard at Hamlin too if the race was for a ticket to the playoffs.
Chase Briscoe’s remarkable season so far
Chase Briscoe’s 2025 campaign with Joe Gibbs Racing has marked a significant turnaround from the frustration and near-misses that characterized his previous seasons. After transitioning to JGR from a sinking Stewart-Haas Racing ship, Briscoe has emerged as one of the Cup Series’ most consistent performers, notching his best averages and race results since joining the sport’s elite level. Statistically, Briscoe’s ascent is undeniable. Through 22 races, he’s posted an average finish of just over 14th, with 1 win, 8 top-10s, 6 top-fives, and a pole position at four different venues, including the Daytona 500!
His highlight came at Pocono, where he managed a tense, fuel-saving drive to hold off Denny Hamlin for his first win of the year. That victory wasn’t simply luck or circumstances. After a pit stop mishap left his tank perilously close to empty, Briscoe meticulously saved fuel during the final green-flag laps, balancing pace and conservation against Hamlin’s relentless pursuit. “It was a lot,” Briscoe admitted after the race. “I wasn’t driving hard… but it was just so hard to have a guy chasing you, right? Especially the guy that’s probably the greatest of all time here, to be trying to save fuel and everything else”.
This win was the result of months of quiet consistency and adaptation. Briscoe finished second at both Sonoma and Dover in July, coming within striking distance of victory on contrasting circuits against top-tier competition. His team’s strong race-to-race execution has resulted in most completed laps and a season-best of leading 192 total laps.
Even in defeat, Briscoe has shown humor and perspective, noting after Sonoma, “I wish I had more… That’s all I got.” From hanging near the fringes in 2023 to contending almost every week in 2025, Briscoe’s revitalization makes him not just a playoff lock but a genuine threat as the season enters its critical stretch. The hurdles that used to stop him, missed strategy calls, bad luck, lapses in execution, are now occasions for resilience and, increasingly, opportunities for celebration. Do you think Chase Briscoe can be a dark horse for the Championship in 2025? Let us know in the comments!
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