Race report

NASCAR Cup Pocono

Denny Hamlin walls Kyle Larson, takes Pocono Cup win

Denny Hamlin collected a very unpopular NASCAR Cup Series win Sunday at Pocono Raceway after moving Kyle Larson out of the way to do it.

Jim Utter

Edited: Jul 24, 2023, 8:49 PM

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After the final round of green flag stops, Larson and Hamlin – who both took just two new right-side tires – found themselves running first and second and battling for the lead on a restart with seven of 160 laps remaining.

Hamlin got to the inside of Larson, drifted up the track and nudged Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet briefly into the wall.

Hamlin skirted by to claim the lead then held off Tyler Reddick – who had taken four new tires on his final stop – until a last-lap caution secured Hamlin’s victory.

Even before Hamlin brought his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota back to the frontstretch to celebrate, fans were already booing him loudly and some throwing bottles on the track.

The win is the second of the 2023 season for Hamlin and 50th of his career.

"Both guys wrecked themselves," Hamlin said of incidents he had with Alex Bowman and Larson. "He (Larson) missed the corner first and evidently he didn't have his right-side tires clean. You know, you have an option in those positions - it's either hold it wide-open and hit the fence or lift and race it out.

"That was a choice they made. I didn't hit either one of them."

Asked about the boos cascading down around him during the interview, Hamlin said, "I love it. I thought we had the best car, honestly. The strategy worked out well. Chris (Gabehart, crew chief) just kept getting me more towards the front. This car was really fast right from practice. I'm just really happy that we're finally winning these races that we should win."

Reddick was credited with second place, Truex third, Kevin Harvick fourth and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top five.

Completing the top-10 running order were Christopher Bell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Harrison Burton, Erik Jones and Chase Elliott.

Stage 1

Joey Logano got around William Byron on an early-race restart and held off Truex to take the Stage 1 win. Hamlin was third, Reddick fourth and A.J. Allmendinger fifth.

Several lead-lap cars elected to pit just prior to the completion of the stage, including Kyle Busch, Byron, Larson and Harvick.

Stage 2

A late-stage caution for a spin by Christopher Bell handed Larson the Stage 2 win. Larson was just about to hit pit road himself when the caution for Bell’s incident was displayed. Ty Dillon was second and Byron third.

Logano, among those who pit during the break between Stages 1 and 2, and Daniel Suarez got involved in a wreck at the start of the second stage. Both drivers suffered serious damage to their respective cars and were eventually forced to retire from the race.

Stage 3

During the break between Stages 2 and 3, a handful of lead-lap cars elected to pit but Byron stayed on the track and inherited the lead.

With a big shove from Gibbs, Ryan Blaney powered to the lead on the restart for the first time in the race. One lap later, Blaney’s No. 12 Ford seemed to fall off the pace which allowed Truex to move into the lead.

Austin Dillon slammed the Turn 1 wall after contact from Reddick, which knocked Dillon out of the race. Before leaving the scene in the ambulance an angry Dillon tossed his helmet at Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota as it drove by under caution.

Truex led Byron and Gibbs on the restart with 50 laps to go.

With about 40 laps remaining, Larson was among the first lead-lap cars to kick off a final round of green flag pit stops to take on new tires (for most teams) and fuel to make it to the end of the race.

Larson, Hamlin and Harvick were among the drivers that took just two new tires while Truex made a longer stop to get four.

Chase Briscoe spun off Turn 3 after contact with Ty Dillon on lap 143 just before the last of the cars had made their final stops.

Several cars pit but Larson stayed out and inherited the lead. He was followed by Hamlin, Truex, Bowman and Harvick on the restart with 13 laps to go.

After moving up to third, Bowman got loose while racing Hamlin for position and wrecked in Turn 3 to set up another restart with seven laps remaining.

Hamlin ran Larson up the track and into the wall on the restart which gave Hamlin the lead just before Justin Haley wrecked in Turn 2 to bring the caution back out.

Hamlin led Harvick and Truex with three laps to go.

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