Denny Hamlin prevailed in a tight door-to-door bump-and-go pass on Kyle Larson with seven laps remaining to claim a historic all-time best seventh NASCAR Cup Series victory at Pocono Raceway on Sunday.
The victory also marked Hamlin’s 50th career trophy and second of the 2023 season.
The race ended under caution for a last lap incident elsewhere on track, and the Pocono crowd voiced its displeasure, booing loudly as Hamlin led the field to pit road at the 2.5-mile track after the checkered flag.
Hamlin maintained the action was just close-quarter racing for a win. Larson, who finished 21st after the contact, disagreed and was none too happy with his good friend and golf partner.
“Both guys wrecked themselves,” Hamlin said of Larson and contact he had earlier with Larson’s teammate Alex Bowman. “There was a lane. He (Larson) missed the corner first and evidently didn’t have his right side tires clean and when he gassed up and got going again, you have an option in those positions to either hold it wide open and hit the fence or lift and race it out.
“Those were choices they made. I didn’t hit either one of them. Didn’t touch them.”
“I love it, I love it,” Hamlin said, acknowledging the boos.
“I thought we had the best car and the strategy worked out. Just so happy we’re winning these races we should win.”
Larson did not mince words after climbing out of his car. Instead of a top five finish – or a possible victory – he recovered from the incident to cross the finish line 21st.
“First off, really proud of my team, they got us in position to race for the win,” said Larson, who did earn the Stage 2 win – his third of the year. “We got spun early (in the race) and the car was never really the same after that, but we played the strategy really well to get us up there. Just unfortunate.
“I’ve been cost a lot of good finishes by him throughout my career, and I know he says that I race a certain way, but I don’t think I’ve ever had to apologize to him about anything, not that I’m sure he’ll say ‘I’m sorry’ after this but it is what it is.”
Hamlin earned Toyota its 600th career win in the three NASCAR national series combined. Tyler Reddick, who drives for the 23XI Racing Toyota team that Hamlin is part-owner of, finished second, while Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex, Jr. crossed the line in third. Kevin Harvick finished fourth, with Ty Gibbs in fifth.
Christopher Bell, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Harrison Burton, and Dawsonville, Georgia’s Chase Elliott rounded out the top 10.
William Byron led the most laps (60) of the day, but finished 24th. He now trails Truex by 30 points for the regular season title.
Varying pit strategies – and in particular on the final green flag run – changed the leaderboard in the last 30-40 laps of the race. Some drivers that hadn’t run in the top five all day postponed their last stop hoping for a caution flag. However, the day’s strongest cars were in position to settle the trophy. Sme – such as Larson and Hamlin – were on a two-tire pit stop and some – such as Truex and Byron – with four fresh tires.
There were 11 cautions on the day and incidents on three consecutive restarts after the Stage 1 break impacted the Playoff situations of multiple drivers.
The first restart following the Stage break not only involved the Stage 1 winner Joey Logano, but also collected Daniel Suarez, who went into the race a mere 1-point behind Michael McDowell for the 16th and final Playoff position. McDowell’s car suffered some damage too, but he was able to drive on. Logano’s Ford was towed back and repaired but Suarez’s Chevrolet pit needing extensive work and ultimately drove back to the garage.
With five races remaining, Suarez dropped to 18th in the championship standings and his deficit to 16th place McDowell now stands at 23 points.
“At the end of the day it’s our fault we shouldn’t be back there with those guys, squirrels,” a frustrated Suarez said, adding, “It was a racing incident, but we shouldn’t be racing those guys. We can only control what we can control.”
NASCAR Cup Series
Pocono Raceway – Long Pond, PA
HighPoint.com 400 – July 23, 2023
1. (8) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 160.
2. (7) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 160.
3. (2) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 160.
4. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 160.
5. (11) Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, 160.
6. (5) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 160.
7. (22) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Chevrolet, 160.
8. (26) Harrison Burton, Ford, 160.
9. (24) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 160.
10. (35) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 160.
11. (10) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 160.
12. (27) Aric Almirola, Ford, 160.
13. (21) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 160.
14. (1) William Byron, Chevrolet, 160.
15. (36) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 160.
16. (13) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 160.
17. (16) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 160.
18. (18) Chris Buescher, Ford, 160.
19. (15) Michael McDowell, Ford, 160.
20. (3) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 160.
21. (25) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 160.
22. (32) Noah Gragson #, Chevrolet, 160.
23. (9) Austin Cindric, Ford, 160.
24. (20) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 160.
25. (31) Cole Custer(i), Ford, 160.
26. (28) J.J. Yeley(i), Ford, 160.
27. (12) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 160.
28. (33) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 160.
29. (29) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 160.
30. (14) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 160.
31. (34) Ryan Preece, Ford, 159.
32. (30) B.J. McLeod, Chevrolet, 159.
33. (19) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, Accident, 153.
34. (23) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 105.
35. (6) Joey Logano, Ford, DVP, 48.
36. (17) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, Accident, 37.
Average Speed: 119.363 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 21 Mins, 4 Secs. Margin of Victory: Under Caution.
Caution Flags: 11 for 44 laps.
Lead Changes: 14 among 9 drivers.
Lap Leaders: W. Byron 1-10;J. Logano 11-31;M. Truex Jr. 32;W. Byron 33-78;T. Gibbs # 79-81;K. Larson 82-95;W. Byron 96-99;R. Blaney 100-101;M. Truex Jr. 102-120;T. Gibbs # 121;D. Hamlin 122-123;T. Reddick 124-138;C. LaJoie 139-143;K. Larson 144-153;D. Hamlin 154-160.
Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) William Byron 3 times for 60 laps; Kyle Larson 2 times for 24 laps; Joey Logano 1 time for 21 laps; Martin Truex Jr. 2 times for 20 laps; Tyler Reddick 1 time for 15 laps; Denny Hamlin 2 times for 9 laps; Corey LaJoie 1 time for 5 laps; Ty Gibbs # 2 times for 4 laps; Ryan Blaney 1 time for 2 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 22,19,11,45,16,34,23,31,17,43
Stage #2 Top Ten: 5,77,24,11,48,45,54,12,23,19
Playoff Standings: 1. William Byron – 681 (4 Wins); 2. Martin Truex, Jr. – 711 (3 Wins); 3. Kyle Busch – 608 (3 Wins); 4. Denny Hamlin – 656 (2 Wins); 5. Kyle Larson – 600 (2 Wins); 6. Christopher Bell – 636 (1 Win); 7. Ross Chastain – 613 (1 Win); 8. Ryan Blaney – 591 (1 Win); 9. Joey Logano – 575 (1 Win); 10. Tyler Reddick – 563 (1 Win); 11. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. – 494 (1 Win); 12. Kevin Harvick – 601; 13. Brad Keselowski – 560; 14. Chris Buescher – 549; 15. Bubba Wallace – 464; 16. Michael McDowell – 455.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
http://accesswdun.com/article/2023/7/1195616/hamlin-scores-pocono-cup-win-after-clash-with-larson