NASCAR Cup Series at Homestead results: Denny Hamlin wins the Dixie Vodka 400 for his third win of the season

The NASCAR Cup Series was back in the Sunshine State

Denny Hamlin is the winner of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Dixie Vodka 400 after battling with Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney through the final stretch at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Hamlin led for much of the race, but Elliott took the lead on the final green flag pit stop of the night. Hamlin was able to retake the lead for good with 30 laps to go and hold off Elliott, who finished in second, Blaney, who took third, and rookie Tyler Reddick, who came in fourth.

The race, which was set for a 3:30 p.m. ET start, finished deep into Sunday evening thanks to a two-hour rain and lightning delay just five laps into the race, and then another delay of nearly 40 minutes after more lightning made its way through the area during Stage 1.

Hamlin had the best car all day, winning Stages 1 and 2 ahead of his third win of the season after winning the Daytona 500 and the Toyota 500, which was the second race at Darlington after the NASCAR Cup Series paused because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hamlin is the first driver this season to win the two stages and go on to win the race. The No. 11 driver also tied Mark Martin for 19th on the all-time list with 40 career Cup Series wins.

It was the first NASCAR event to have fans in attendance since the coronavirus forced the nation into quarantine, as a few hundred military personnel from the nearby Homestead Air Force base were invited to the race. 

For the previous 18 seasons, Homestead was the last stop on the Cup Series calendar and hosted Ford Championship weekend, but the race was moved to March after last season when NASCAR reshuffled the Cup Series schedule, and the pandemic pushed the South Florida race back to June. 

The Cup Series has the rest of the week off -- no mid-week race -- and will head to Talladega Superspeedway for the Geico 500.

Relive all of the action from the Dixie Vodka 400 below.

[Jun 14, 2020 at 10:05 pm ET · Andrew Julian]

This could make for quite an ending, 70 laps to go