Denny Hamlin doesn’t feel Pocono Raceway owes him anything after his victory last year was stripped away a few hours after crossing the finish line first.
His No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and the sister car of former teammate Kyle Busch both failed post-race inspection. The two cars were found to have tape on the lower front fascia, which was found when the cars were torn down and the wrap removed during inspection.
The third-place finisher Chase Elliott was awarded the win. The violation made Hamlin the first driver in the modern era to have a victory taken away.
Saturday, as the NASCAR Cup Series made its return to Pocono Raceway for its lone summer visit, Hamlin said he isn’t carrying a chip on his shoulder and there is no added motivation to finish the job this time around.
“I think everyone knows that we’ll be in the story as long as nothing detrimental happens,” Hamlin said. “We feel pretty good about where we’re at and the speed we showed up with. I’m pretty optimistic that we can hopefully be a part of the story when the day is over.”
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Whether it comes at Pocono or somewhere else, the next victory he scores will be a milestone for Hamlin. It would be his 50th in the NASCAR Cup Series, which will break Hamlin from a tie with Hall of Famer and former teammate Tony Stewart.
There are two other Hall of Famers — Junior Johnson and Ned Jarrett — who would welcome Hamlin into the No. 50 club.
“I don’t know how many really truly legit shots we’ve had where we had grasps on the race, we were the fastest car, and didn’t win,” Hamlin said of trying to get his 50th victory. “Certainly, there are little things here and there you can do better, but I don’t feel like since Kansas (that) we’ve had the one race that we’ve just been good enough to win and didn’t win. So, I think it hasn’t gotten frustrating quite yet.”
But there is certainly anticipation.
“Oh, for sure,” Hamlin said. “It’s something I think about every week and something that I’m pretty optimistic every seven days I’ve got a shot (to do).”