Denny Hamlin Wins at Pocono After Controversial Finish
Denny Hamlin secured a historic victory at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway during the HighPoint.com 400, making a controversial door-to-door pass on Kyle Larson with seven laps remaining. This win marked Hamlin’s remarkable seventh NASCAR Cup Series victory at Pocono, also serving as his 50th career trophy and his second victory of the 2023 season.
The race concluded under caution due to an incident on the last lap elsewhere on the track, prompting a vociferous chorus of boos from the Pocono crowd as Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota led the field to pit road at the 2.5-mile track after the checkered flag. Despite the negative response, the 42-year-old Hamlin maintained that the racing action was intense and that his maneuvers were within the bounds of competitive racing. Larson, who finished 21st due to the contact, had a differing view and expressed dissatisfaction with his friend and golf partner, Hamlin.
Addressing the situation, Hamlin stated, “Both guys wrecked themselves… There was a lane. He [Larson] missed the corner first and evidently didn’t have his right-side tires clean, and when he gassed up and got 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 were choices they made. I didn’t hit either one of them. Didn’t touch them.”
Hamlin humorously acknowledged the boos, stating, “I love it, I love it. I thought we had the best car and the strategy worked out. Just so happy we’re winning these races we should win.”
However, Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion, did not hold back his feelings after stepping out of his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Instead of a potential top-five finish or even a victory, he ended up recovering to finish 21st after the incident.
Larson stated, “First off, really proud of my team, they got us in position to race for the win… We got spun early [in the race], and the car was never really the same after that, but we played the strategy really well to get us up there. Just unfortunate… I’ve been cost a lot of good finishes by him throughout my career, and I know he says that I race a certain way, but I don’t think I’ve ever had to apologize to him about anything.”
Hamlin’s victory marked Toyota’s 600th career win across the three NASCAR national series combined. He was followed by his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Martin Truex Jr., and Tyler Reddick, who races for the 23XI Racing Toyota team co-owned by Hamlin. The Top-6 was rounded out by Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick, and Joe Gibbs Racing’s rookie Ty Gibbs and Christopher Bell.
Finishing in the top 10 were Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Harrison Burton, and Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott. The race also marked the second top-10 finish of the season for the 22-year-old Burton. Despite missing six races in 2023, Elliott’s efforts leave him 59 points away from the 16-driver Playoff pool with five remaining regular-season races.
The race polesitter, William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports, led the most laps (60) during the day but finished 24th. He is now 30 points behind Truex in the hunt for the regular season title.
The race featured varying pit strategies, particularly during the final green flag run, leading to changes in the leaderboard in the last 30-40 laps. The day’s strongest cars found themselves in contention for the victory, with some drivers postponing their final stop in hopes of a caution. Ultimately, drivers like Larson and Hamlin used differing pit strategies to compete for the win.
The race saw 11 cautions, with incidents on three consecutive restarts after the Stage 1 break affecting the Playoff prospects of multiple drivers.
The first restart following the Stage break impacted both Stage 1 winner Joey Logano and Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez, who started the race just one point behind Michael McDowell for the 16th and final Playoff position. Suarez’s No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet required extensive repairs and a trip to the garage, dropping him to 18th in the championship standings.
The run to the Playoffs continues next week with the Cook Out 400 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway.
