Sunday at Pocono Raceway, there was no stopping the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Denny Hamlin.
Hamlin has won three consecutive Cup races: Nashville, Michigan, and now Pocono, earning his eighth career Cup Series victory at the Tricky Triangle.
This is Hamlin’s 64th career victory, breaking a tie with Kyle Busch for ninth on the all-time wins list.
Championship leader Tyler Reddick finished second, whose lead is now just 19 points over Hamlin.
William Byron finished third, John Hunter Nemechek fourth, and Kyle Larson fifth. Erik Jones, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Ty Gibbs, and Ryan Blaney filled out the remainder of the top ten.
Stage 1
Hamlin started from pole, but after Larson ran him wide in the Tunnel Turn at the start, he lost control of the race. After a brief battle with Suarez for the runner-up spot, he settled into second, and there wasn’t much passing throughout the field.
As we got deeper into the run, Hamlin started to close in on Larson, and it was clear that the Hendrick driver would not be able to hold onto the lead. Hamlin expertly used the lapped car of Casey Mears to his advantage, cutting under Larson and taking the lead.
Hamlin set sail after that, while six cars decided to flip the stage, pitting early under green while remaining on the lead lap so they could cycle to the front for the start of the next stage. This group of cars included Reddick, who scored no stage points, but was set to jump onto the front row for the ensuing restart.
Hamlin ultimately won the stage over Larson, Gibbs, Briscoe, Buescher, Suarez, Byron, E. Jones, Logano, and A. Hill.
Stage 2
Hamlin won the race off pit road, but he was only seventh due to the cars that flipped the stage. Nemechek now led the race along with fellow stage-flippers Reddick, Z. Smith, Blaney, Cindric, and Bowman.
Gibbs had a slow stop, with the jack dropping too soon on the right-side, and fell to the very back of the field.
On the restart, Reddick and Nemechek engaged in a multi-lap battle for the lead, with Reddick ultimately prevailing. Behind them, Smith made a bold three-wide move for third, and lost control at the exit of Turn 1 while side-by-side with Hamlin. He slammed the inside wall, triggering the first natural caution of the race.
During the yellow, a small group of cars near the back chose to pit, led by Logano.
On the following restart, Hill, Van Gisbergen, and Berry were battling three-wide for position when Hill washed up the track. Berry hit the wall, crashing with Van Gisbergen. In the chaos, several other cars wrecked as well, with severe damage for Keselowski. Others involved included Logano, Zilisch, Wallace, Bell, and Gragson.
Hamlin and Reddick decided to pit as this caution was right on the edge of the pit window, but about ten cars stayed out. Nemechek led Briscoe on the restart, but they were not going to be able to make it to the end of the stage without pitting.
This cycle of stops began with about 20 laps left in the stage, with Suarez and Chastain, with Chastain locking up the tires at pit entry. Nemechek pitted from the lead soon after, leading a career-high 33 laps.
Elliott, who was the top-running driver to pit during the most recent caution, now led the race with Hamlin close behind. With eight laps to in the stage, Hamlin passed Elliott to take over the lead. Pit stops continued as strategies and fuel loads varied throughout the entire field, with Hamlin and Elliott pitting with five laps left in the stage.
Cindric pitted from the lead with three laps left in the stage, handing control over to Gilliland, who tried to stretch it all the way to the stage break.
He made it work, with Gilliland winning Stage 2 (the first stage win of his entire career) over Briscoe, Nemechek, E. Jones, Stenhouse, Chastain, Hocevar, Suarez, Hamlin, and Elliott.
Reddick just missed out on stage points, while title rival Hamlin collected a total of 12 as he attempts to hunt the 23XI driver down for the points lead.
Stage 3
Several drivers pitted during the stage break, including Stage 2 winner Gilliland, Hocevar, Chastain, Stenhouse, and A. Dillon.
Briscoe and Nemechek shared the front row for the restart that followed, with Nemechek taking the lead and Hamlin moving up to second.
The next caution was for Casey Mears, who lost a right-front wheel. During the yellow, Suarez, Bell, Gilliland, Bowman, Allmendinger, A. Dillon all pitted.
Right as the fuel window opened, several cars chose to pit, beginning with Briscoe, Jones, and Buescher. Pit road was a busy place for the next few laps as drivers made their final scheduled stop. Hamlin pitted from the lead with 38 laps to go.
Reddick and Chastain were now out front, both both pitted with 25 laps to go. Blaney pitted from the lead soon after, handing control to Bell, who was discussing the prospect of rolling the dice and trying to stretch the fuel to the end.
He had a 10-second buffer on Hamlin with 20 laps to go. 15 laps later, Hamlin overtook Bell for the race lead, well on his way to winning three consecutive Cup races.
Bell ran out of fuel and had to pit at the white flag, finishing 26th. Up front, Reddick passed Byron for second with a big tire advantage, but he ran out of time to run down Hamlin for the win.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: motorsport.com
