Denny Hamlin Turns the Tables on Kevin Harvick and Wins the NASCAR Cup Race on Sunday

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LONG POND, PA – RIS – Denny Hamlin, a runner-up in yesterday’s NASCAR Cup race won at Pocono Raceway by turning the tables on Kevin Harvick on Sunday.  Harvick won Saturday’s race with Hamlin second.  The second race in two days found Hamlin winning and Harvick second.  Apparently, both teams and drivers know their way around this 2.5-mile triangle.

Hamlin raced to his fourth victory of the season — and sixth at Pocono — to cap a wild, marathon day of racing at the track, with three NASCAR races and a near-darkness Cup finish. Pocono doesn't have lights, but the pit road numbers were lit up and glowed as Hamlin took the checkered flag for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Hamlin had a late vibration in his No. 11 Toyota on Saturday that hindered his attempt to catch Harvick down the stretch. About 25 hours later, Hamlin surged past Harvick and built a nearly 3-second lead; Harvick’s serious run at the victory slowed because of a loose wheel.

Harvick closed the margin between the pair, but there wasn’t enough time left for him to catch Hamlin. Harvick finished runner-up, tailing away in the last couple of laps to end up more than three seconds behind Hamlin at the checkered flag.

In winning his 41st career Cup race, Hamlin tied Jeff Gordon for most career Cup wins at Pocono. Hamlin’s six wins have come in 14 years at the 2.5-mile Tricky Triangle.

“Six? I can’t put it into words how much it means to me,” Hamlin said after the race. “I was hoping for no caution. I knew the car I had. I didn’t want to make any mistakes like at Bristol, where I gave that one away.”

Hamlin likes Pocono and gave a prediction of the future.

“I don’t think this will be the last one,” Hamlin said during a post-race media teleconference. “I think we’ll continue to build on it. I really wanted to win both races but it didn’t work out. I don’t want to be greedy.”

With the second-place finish, Harvick earned his 11th top-10 finish of the season and his 19th top-10 career finish in 40 starts at the Tricky Triangle, including five runner-up showings.

Ranking No. 1 in driver points, Harvick leaves Pocono with a commanding 52-point lead over Ryan Blaney in the Cup point standings.

“Our car today was actually better than yesterday,” Harvick told FS1. “(Hamlin) just did the opposite than we did. We didn’t want to get caught a caution and wound up losing too much time in lapped traffic. He was out there running clean laps and waited to the very end and wound up in front of us. (Saturday), that won us the race and today we finished second.”

Erik Jones finished third, followed by Chase Elliott and Aric Almirola.

The start of the race was delayed more than 30 minutes due to lightning. Then, after the first six laps under green flag conditions, there was a nearly one-hour delay due to rain.

Sunday marked the first tripleheader in NASCAR history, where all three national series raced at the same location and on the same day. … Cole Custer (17th) was the highest-finishing rookie.

Unofficial Results: Pocono 350, Pocono Raceway

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 19, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota, 140, , 10, 3, 49, 5, 41, Running
2) 20, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Busch Head for the Mountains Ford, 140, 4, 6, 2, 11, , 47, Running
3) 38, Erik Jones, No. 20 Craftsman Toyota, 140, , , , , , 34, Running
4) 25, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 140, , , , , , 33, Running
5) 18, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 140, , 2, 1, 4, , 41, Running
6) 8, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford, 140, 6, 9, , , , 38, Running
7) 7, William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, 140, , , , , , 30, Running
8) 14, Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Mobil 1 Ford, 140, , , , , , 29, Running
9) 27, Alex Bowman, No. 88 ChevyGoods.com/Adams Polishes Chevrolet, 140, , , , , , 28, Running
10) 15, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Sirius XM Toyota, 140, 8, 4, 1, 5, , 37, Running
11) 12, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Western Star/Alliance Parts Ford, 140, 5, 1, 2, 13, 1, 42, Running
12) 10, Matt Kenseth, No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet, 140, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 3, Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet, 140, 1, 8, 1, 35, 1, 37, Running
14) 2, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Symbicort Chevrolet, 140, , 7, , , , 27, Running
15) 4, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet, 140, , 5, , , , 28, Running
16) 21, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 140, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 5, Cole Custer #, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford, 140, 10, , , , , 21, Running
18) 6, Ryan Newman, No. 6 Wyndham Rewards Ford, 139, , 3, , , , 27, Running
19) 24, John Hunter Nemechek #, No. 38 Death Wish Coffee Ford, 139, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 22, Bubba Wallace, No. 43 Victory Junction Chevrolet, 139, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 23, Corey LaJoie, No. 32 Built Bar Ford, 139, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 9, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Richmond Ford, 139, 2, , 1, 21, , 24, Running
23) 26, Ty Dillon, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 139, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 36, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 139, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 1, Ryan Preece, No. 37 P&G Chevrolet, 139, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 28, * Daniel Suarez, No. 96 CommScope Toyota, 139, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 29, Brennan Poole #, No. 15 Remember Everyone Deployed Chevrolet, 138, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 31, JJ Yeley(i), No. 27 Rick Ware Racing Ford, 138, , , , , , 0, Running
29) 35, * Timmy Hill(i), No. 66 CrashClaimsR.US Toyota, 137, , , , , , 0, Running
30) 34, James Davison, No. 77 OilFire Rye Whiskey Chevrolet, 136, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 40, Quin Houff #, No. 00 Mane 'n Tail Chevrolet, 136, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 33, Garrett Smithley(i), No. 53 Rich Mar Florist Chevrolet, 136, , , , , , 0, Running
33) 37, Joey Gase(i), No. 51 Adkins Automotive LLC Ford, 136, , , , , , 0, Running
34) 32, * Josh Bilicki(i), No. 7 Insurance King Chevrolet, 136, , , , , , 0, Running
35) 30, Tyler Reddick #, No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet, 135, , , , , , 2, Running
36) 11, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 135, 7, , , , , 5, Running
37) 39, * BJ McLeod(i), No. 78 Koolbox Chevrolet, 133, , , , , , 0, Running
38) 16, Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Mini's Toyota, 74, 9, , 1, 2, , 3, Accident
39) 17, Christopher Bell #, No. 95 Rheem Toyota, 39, 3, , , , , 9, Accident
40) 13, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Dockside Logistics Ford, 15, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Race Length: 140 laps, 350 miles
Time of Race: 2 hrs, 50 mins, 54 secs.
Average Speed: 122.879 mph
Margin of Victory: 3.068 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 1, 12, 95, 4, 2, 21, 17, 19, 18, 41
Stage 2 Top 10: 2, 10, 6, 19, 47, 4, 3, 1, 21, 11

Race Comments: Denny Hamlin won the Pocono 350 at Pocono Raceway, his 41st NASCAR Cup Series victory.

Prior to the start, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: No. 9, No. 78 (transmission change), No. 24, No. 37 (engine change), No. 00, No. 8, No. 20, No. 22, No. 88 (backup car).

Caution Flags: 8 for 32 laps;
Laps: 5-11 (Precipitation [Red Flag - 50:50] [None]);
16-18 (No. 34 Incident Turn 2 [No. 78]);
32-35 (Stage 1 Conclusion [No. 48]);
40-44 (No. 95 Incident Turn 2 [No. 66]);
47-50 (No. 17 Incident Turn 3 [No. 53]);
77-79 (No. 12, No. 18 Incident Turn 2 [No. 15]);
81-83 (No. 37 Incident Turn 2 [No. 27]);
87-89 (Stage 2 Conclusion [No. 66]).

Lead Changes: 12 among 8 drivers;
R. Preece 0;
K. Busch 1-35;
R. Blaney 36-56;
K. Busch 57-58;
D. Hamlin 59-76;
K. Harvick 77;
B. Keselowski 78-79;
A. Almirola 80-83;
B. Keselowski 84-94;
K. Harvick 95-104;
D. Hamlin 105-120;
M. Truex Jr. 121-125;
D. Hamlin 126-140.

Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Cole Custer, No. 41