Denny Hamlin secures NASCAR Cup victory at Pocono
The race continued to overtime for a dramatic finish, but the 38-year-old had enough left in the tank to earn the victory.
LONG POND, Pa. -- Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 car might have been running on fumes, but its driver was plenty fired up after navigating his way to victory Sunday in the NASCAR Cup race at Pocono Raceway.
Hamlin, whose win was the fifth of his career at Pocono, finished ahead of Erik Jones and Martin Truex Jr. in overtime to complete a 1-2-3 sweep for Joe Gibbs Racing.
“This track’s been really good to me,” Hamlin said. “It’s where I got my first win, and it’s pretty special for that reason. ... Five wins — I don’t know, it doesn’t really even register with me."
Despite the fact that much of the pre-race discussion centered around strategy for handling the raceway’s three corners, planning seemed to go out the window late Sunday afternoon. It looked as though the race’s winner would simply be the last car to deplete its fuel supply.
That said, Hamlin was clear that he thought the traction compound in the corners was key on the way to securing his third win of the season. He had needed to pass on the outside to get around Truex on Lap 142 and the leader Jones on Lap 143.
“[The compound is] how I got around [Truex and Jones] on the outside,” he said. “Certainly, we had a better race than we would’ve had without it.”
Pole-winner Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch led for 62 and 56 laps, respectively, but neither was able to find the front of the pack when it mattered. Busch won Stage 1 of the race and had many wondering if he’d become the first to sweep Pocono’s two Cup Series races since Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2014, but a minor collision forced him to head to the pit road. He finished ninth, and Harvick crossed the line sixth.
Having last visited the pit for a stop on Lap 115, Hamlin had long needed to refuel even before the pace car led the field across the finish line at the end of the 160th lap around the track. Hamlin’s crew chief, Chris Gabehart, was adamant, therefore, that Hamlin save as much fuel as he could from the leader’s position.
“To win the race, he had to trust me, so he didn’t have a choice,” Gabehart joked. “Get the lead and we’ll worry about the fuel situation later. If we don’t make it, we don’t make it, but we’re going for the win.”
Hamlin is fourth in the Cup Series standings with 722 points. Next weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series will head to Watkins Glen International Raceway in New York.