NASCAR
Denny Hamlin Wins 50th Cup Series Victory at Pocono
LONG POND, Pa. – Pocono Raceway has a new all-time wins leader, after Denny Hamlin takes a seventh Tricky Triangle victory. Disqualified from this victory last year, Hamlin now has 50 career Cup Series checkered flags, tied for 13th-most all time. Now joining the 2023 multi-win club, is Hamlin a title contender?
Even though championship favorites William Byron and Martin Truex Jr. started on the front row, neither driver took Stage 1. This win instead went to Joey Logano, who then proceeded to wreck out on the Stage 2 restart.
The start of Stage 2 would see two more single-car spins, including with eventual Stage winner Kyle Larson. Getting spun in turn one put the 5 on an alternate strategy that allowed him to cycle up to the lead for this Stage win.
Early in Stage 3 saw tempers flare between some ex-teammates. Austin Dillon cut down on Tyler Reddick entering turn one, sending the 3 hard into the outside wall. Dillon then proceeded to throw his helmet at Reddick’s car, narrowly missing the No. 45 Toyota.
Stage 3 soon emerged into a fuel mileage race between Larson, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. Larson held a narrow advantage over the Toyotas until a lap 144 caution. Larson maintained the lead through turn one on the restart, but another caution immediately flew for Alex Bowman spinning.
On the next restart, Hamlin ran Larson wide through turn one, forcing the 5 into the wall. This moment had shades of Hamlin’s move against Ross Chastain in this race a year ago. Another caution was triggered by Justin Haley finding the turn two wall, giving the field one more shot at Hamlin. Under caution, Larson also showed his displeasure at the 11 by dooring him.
On the final restart Hamlin was clear by turn one and drove off to a record seventh Pocono win. The win was given to Hamlin half a lap early, with a Ryan Preece spin leading to a race-ending caution. Toyota now owns 600 wins across all three NASCAR National Series, in addition to Hamlin’s 50 Cup victories. Hamlin’s seven Pocono triumphs also breaks a tie with Jeff Gordon for all-time Tricky Triangle wins.
“Both guys wrecked themselves,” Hamlin said when asked about the Larson move. “He missed the corner first, and evidently he didn’t have his right side tires clean. When he gassed up, he just kept 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 are choices they made, I didn’t touch him.”
“I love it,” Hamlin said in reaction to fans booing his 50th win. “They can boo my rock out here in a few years.”
Behind Hamlin, the Pocono top-10 were: Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Harrison Burton, Erik Jones and Chase Elliott.
Hamlin now jumps up to fourth on the provisional Playoff grid with his second 2023 win. The bubble gap grows a bit too, with Michael McDowell leading AJ Allmendinger by 17 points. See the rest of the Playoff grid following Pocono below.
Up next for the NASCAR Cup Series is Denny Hamlin’s home track–Richmond Raceway. Hamlin has a great chance at going back-to-back; Toyotas always run strong on the Virginia short track. The Cook Out 400 will go green Sunday at 3:00 p.m. ET on USA, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Richmond also marks one year since Kevin Harvick’s last win. Can the 4 go out on top in the Commonwealth?
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Sean Gardner/Getty Images
