Denny Hamlin emerged as the winner of the NASCAR All-Star race at the Dover Motor Speedway on Sunday. With this, the Joe Gibbs Racing star won the million-dollar prize, and that too for the second time in his storied career.

Following the victory, Hamlin explained his road to success at the 'Monster Mile' and revealed who would receive the impressive monetary prize.

"It makes it a lot easier when you’ve got a car this fast, honestly," Hamlin said post-race. "We strive to be No. 1. We did it today. It really challenged us to have to go through traffic. Otherwise, you could go out there, and you could lead a bunch of laps, but I definitely like the invert. Obviously, it caused some chaos there, took out some good cars."

Hamlin, who has an estimated net worth of $65 million, said he would hand the prize to his mother, Mary Lou Hamlin. Denny Hamlin and his family had a tough time in the offseason, with Mary losing her husband in a house fire last December.

"But overall, it’s a typical All-Star Race when that stuff happens. But I just knew that the game-changer for us was long runs and, obviously, the ability to pass when we’re behind someone. I’ll probably give (the $1 million) to Mama," Hamlin further added.

In the post-race press conference, he explained the reasoning for his decision, saying, "Mom needs some furniture for her new house."

Denny Hamlin has suffered back-to-back heartbreaks since last year. From losing the Cup Series championship to Kyle Larson in the last few laps at Phoenix to his family crisis, the Joe Gibbs Racing star has been through bad times.

The All-Star victory, even though it is a non-championship race, is expected to bring him into high spirits.

Denny Hamlin Explains How He Mastered Dover

During the initial years of his career, Denny Hamlin did not have great statistics at Dover Motor Speedway. However, over time, it changed, and it became one of his happy hunting grounds.

With the victory on Sunday, Hamlin picked up his third consecutive and fourth overall wins at this track, and for this, he credited former NASCAR drivers Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex. Speaking about how he learned from them, here's what Hamlin said in the post-race interview:

"Back when I was studying them is just when you were starting to get more on-board videos and whatnot. We didn't have data or anything like that. I just watched lap after lap after lap and said, I'm going to copy that, right or wrong. It started working."

Prior to the NASCAR All-Star victory, Denny Hamlin's three wins at this track came in 2020, 2024, and 2025.

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Written by

Sabyasachi Biswas

Edited by

Yask Kotak