Kyle Larson had a “brief” and “fine” text exchange with Denny Hamlin, but the Hendrick Motorsports driver is still frustrated by what happened last weekend at Pocono Raceway. “It was brief and fine,” Larson said Saturday about his conversation with …
Kyle Larson had a “brief” and “fine” text exchange with Denny Hamlin, but the Hendrick Motorsports driver is still frustrated by what happened last weekend at Pocono Raceway.
“It was brief and fine,” Larson said Saturday about his conversation with Hamlin. “[We] just text a little bit late last night. He wanted to meet up, but I didn’t really feel like there was a reason to meet up because we were just going to agree to disagree and probably get more frustrated with him and I’m sure vice versa. I’m sure he’d be frustrated with me afterward, so I thought just the brief texts that we had were good and, ultimately, I think it was probably the best.”
Neither Larson nor Hamlin wanted to share what the two discussed.
Hamlin ran Larson hard through Turn 1 at Pocono, putting the No. 5 in a position where he was going to stay in the throttle and hit the wall or back off. By choosing to stay in the throttle and race side-by-side with Hamlin, the two went up the track and Larson bounced off the wall.
Under caution, Larson ran up to Hamlin on the frontstretch and squeezed him into the outside wall. Afterward, the Hendrick driver didn’t hide being angry at his friend and the lack of respect he felt Hamlin gave him.
“I think I did all my interviews before I saw a replay and I knew exactly what happened, and after watching replays, it pretty much confirmed what had happened,” Larson said. “So, my opinion on the on-track stuff hasn’t changed.”
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The more Hamlin has shared on the subject, the more Larson has disagreed with what happened. Larson anticipated Hamlin would say something on his ‘Actions Detrimental’ podcast that wouldn’t help the situation.
“I think he said a handful of things that made me even more frustrated throughout the week than maybe I even was after the race,” Larson said. “But we’re trying to forget about all that and go race this weekend and see if we can get a good run.”
Larson said that “over time” he’ll get over what happened between the two. But while Hamlin said if roles were reversed in Pocono, the same thing would have happened with Hamlin on the receiving end, Larson disagreed.
Going back to St. Louis, Larson said he had four or five restarts to take a shot at Kyle Busch for the victory and didn’t do anything dirty. It’s how he said he would have raced at Pocono.
“I respect Kyle, and that’s why I raced him with respect at Gateway,” he said. “And I respect Denny every bit as much, if not more. Or I did, so I don’t think I would have raced any differently than I did at Gateway.”
Denny Hamlin managed two rare feats on Sunday afternoon at Pocono Raceway, but you might have only heard focus on one. Hamlin was victorious in the NASCAR Cup Series race. That fact is well-known and indisputable. But the way in which Hamlin went …
Denny Hamlin managed two rare feats on Sunday afternoon at Pocono Raceway, but you might have only heard focus on one.
Hamlin was victorious in the NASCAR Cup Series race. That fact is well-known and indisputable. But the way in which Hamlin went about claiming the victory while racing Kyle Larson has resulted in enough controversy and conversation to distract from the accomplishment.
Yes, Hamlin overshadowed himself.
Take a break for a minute of analyzing Hamlin versus Larson and whether it was fair or foul or whether or not they did or didn’t touch, and remember that Hamlin won for the 50th time in his NASCAR Cup Series career. A big number and an even bigger accomplishment for any driver.
“Stuff like this doesn’t sit in for a while,” Hamlin said post-race, where he spent most of the time being asked about the incident with Larson. “Actually, (I) exchanged texts with [Matt] Kenseth over the week. We were just reminiscing about old races. I was definitely filling him up about how great he was; he was a great teammate.
“The wins he had. He was so underrated. I told him that’s the one thing that we’re always of is not appreciating it in the moment.
“When you retire, and you’ve got a bunch of time, you’re sitting there on your rocker on your back porch, you’re thinking about ‘What have I accomplished in the sport?’ These things take a long time to sit in. They really do. We’re in the heat of the moment now.”
Pocono was a fitting place for Hamlin to get No. 50. It was where he earned his first career victory in the series in 2006. And his second that same year. The triangle in Pennsylvania has been a Hamlin place since the beginning, and he now has seven victories at the racetrack.
Or eight if you ask him. The disqualification from last year is not forgotten.
“It takes time,” Hamlin continued about his latest and biggest win. “I never thought I’d get an opportunity in the Cup Series. Luckily, J.D. Gibbs took a chance and Joe Gibbs took a chance on me nearly 20 years ago. To get my 50th win, it comes (at) the track that I got my first; it certain is special.
“I knew every weekend I go into it thinking, ‘Man, this would be the perfect weekend for it because there’s always the right time to win.’ There are just little things. My old car chief, Spider that works at Joe Gibbs Racing, found in his old toolbox my grandmother’s St. Christopher (medal). I get in my car for practice, and it’s sitting on my dash. I’m like, I hadn’t seen that thing. I thought it was lost. My mom would put that in there before the race on the dash. I sat down and said, ‘Well, we’re winning this weekend.’
“Those things don’t happen by accident.”
That’s now seven wins for Hamlin at Pocono… or is it eight? Motorsport Images
There are only three active drivers ahead of Hamlin on the all-time Cup Series wins list: Jimmie Johnson (84), Kyle Busch (63), and Kevin Harvick (63). Sunday’s victory broke Hamlin from a tie with Tony Stewart at 49 and moved him into a tie with Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson at 50.
And that puts Hamlin into a three-way tie at 11th on the all-time wins list.
“(I’m) just really happy to win it for the team, the whole team,” Hamlin said. “Chris [Gabehart] and his team on the pit box. The guys in the war room, the guys in the fab shop. I’ve been really lucky to be part of an organization that carried me for many years to many, many victories – like a lot.
“Not everyone gets the opportunity to go from racing late models to racing for Joe Gibbs Racing in 18 months in the Cup Series. It’s hard to do. It really is. But luckily, they believed in me, gave me time to get going and the rest is history.”
Hamlin admittedly drove as hard as he could against Larson for a win that was going to mean so much. There was his 50th career victory in the balance, his seventh at Pocono to make him the all-time wins leader at the track, as well as the 600th national event win for Toyota.
Chris Gabehart, Hamlin’s crew chief, reminded his driver of those numbers late in the race. In fact, it was over the No. 11 team’s radio before the restart that Hamlin would use up Larson for the race lead.
Gabehart ran through the numbers before saying, “I don’t know how to motivate you more than that. Find a way.”
Hamlin did – the disdain of Larson and the critics.
“Denny doesn’t like cheerleaders, he’ll tell you that,” Gabehart said. “I think every now and then focus is required of anyone. I say that because these moments are so hard to get to. To even have an opportunity to compete for a win, let alone all those things we just mentioned, all those metrics, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“All those things are never going to line up at once. So he’s hot and sweaty and in that cocoon, focused on this vibration, getting these tires clean enough. I just wanted to get in his mind one moment and remind him this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, find a way to go get it. If I spend every minute of my day in that manner, it’s never going to mean something when I step up and say it that clearly because it’s always level-10 cheering.
“I just wanted to focus him on the moment and just remind him of how important the moment was.”
A three-time Daytona 500 champion, a Coca-Cola 600 winner, a three-time Southern 500 winner, and a winner of 50 races overall. Hamlin is a future NASCAR Hall of Famer, and easily one of the best to have not won a NASCAR Cup Series championship. A championship and win on the Indianapolis oval are all that he hasn’t accomplished.
And when it comes to his latest accomplishment, on the one hand, Hamlin will never forget his Pocono victory because he’ll always be reminded of how he earned it. But on the other hand, it might be the reason why the fact that it was his 50th is a bit of a footnote.
Denny Hamlin disagrees that he didn’t race Kyle Larson with respect late Sunday at Pocono Raceway. “We’re racing for the win, are you (expletive) me?” Hamlin said. “If I’m going to give anyone respect, it’s Kyle Larson just because I respect him as …
Denny Hamlin disagrees that he didn’t race Kyle Larson with respect late Sunday at Pocono Raceway.
“We’re racing for the win, are you (expletive) me?” Hamlin said. “If I’m going to give anyone respect, it’s Kyle Larson just because I respect him as a race car driver, and I think he’s probably the best. Certainly, he’s got my respect.
“But (expletive), we’re all racing for a win. I guarantee you, roles reversed, it goes the same way.”
Hamlin and Larson either touched or didn’t, depending on which one you ask, with seven laps to go through Turn 1. The two were running side-by-side in close proximity through the corner and Larson hit the wall.
Under the caution, which came out for an unrelated incident involving Justin Haley in Turn 2, Larson drove up alongside Hamlin and hit him in the driver’s side door. Hamlin went on to win the race while Larson finished 21st.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver did admit he was going to drive as hard as he could to chase a milestone victory. It was the 50th of his Cup Series career and the 600th NASCAR national event victory for Toyota.
“That’s why I left him more than a lane off Turn 2,” Hamlin said.
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He also disagreed that Larson has never apologized to him in the past for on-track incidents. According to Hamlin, he’s been run off course at road courses by Larson and got an apology phone call.
“I said, ‘I’m going to stand my ground next time,’” Hamlin said before then mentioning Alex Bowman, who spun in front of him earlier in the day. “I put both of those guys, the No. 48 and the No. 5, in an aero situation. Didn’t touch either one. How can you wreck someone you don’t touch?
“They made a decision to either let off the gas and race side-by-side or hit the gas and hit the wall. I put them to those decisions. I didn’t overshoot the corner. I was behind. I tried to get position on him, knew it was going to be tight off of (Turn) 2, but always made sure I left a lane, or more than a lane.
“These Next Gen cars…you get in that spot near the car on the outside, it sends them very tight. It just tightens their aero balance. Everyone knows it. Kyle is one of the best aero blockers in our field. I knew once he got the lead and it was green, there was no way I was going to go around him, so I backed off and just waited, tried not to burn up my (expletive) for a restart later because he knows how to put you in a situation to just kill your car.
“We waited. We pounced at the right time. He didn’t get his right sides clean, drove in the corner just too far, let us get beside him. I thought we were going to race it out off of (Turn) 2. He got in the fence.”
Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick differed on their contact Sunday at Pocono Raceway, after which Dillon threw his helmet at his former teammate. The two made contact on lap 42 going into Turn 1 when Reddick hit Dillon in the left rear. Dillon’s No. 3 …
Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick differed on their contact Sunday at Pocono Raceway, after which Dillon threw his helmet at his former teammate.
The two made contact on lap 42 going into Turn 1 when Reddick hit Dillon in the left rear. Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet slammed the outside wall and then slid down the track and to a stop in the grass.
“I thought I was doing the right thing going into the middle lane of the track,” Dillon said. “I wasn’t on the bottom lane, I was going to hold the middle. He drove up into me from the bottom lane. I just heard one interview where (Dale Earnhardt) Jr. thought I started coming down (into) the corner, and that’s kind of natural to enter the corner that way.
“I don’t know (but) I’m (expletive) about it because, from my perspective, I couldn’t see him. I know I was three-wide, but my left front is in front of him. That’s the bigger thing. I’m in front of him, so I didn’t come down egregiously. He drove in the corner deep enough to try and get me back, to get his right front in front of my left front. That was not possible with how I drove in the corner, and he wiped me out at the fastest part of the track.”
After climbing out of his car under his own power, Dillon threw his helmet at Reddick when the field drove back by the scene.
“I was just trying to hit him,” Dillon said. “I’m (expletive) I didn’t lead it; they were going probably 65mph. If I was started at the front of the car, I probably would have got him in the door.”
Reddick, who departed Richard Childress Racing to join 23XI Racing this season, denied there was anything intentional at play. In acknowledging he knew Dillon didn’t have a lot of room, Reddick wasn’t trying to make a squeeze move or run him up the racetrack.
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In the immediate aftermath of the race, Reddick only had the replay to go by. However, he plans on looking at SMT data to get a better understanding of what happened even as he said by the time he realized what Dillon was doing, he was going for the brake pedal.
“The biggest thing is I’m glad he’s OK because that’s a big hit,” Reddick said. “But we’re three wide, I’m trying to make it into the corner and I had one plan of approach and he had another, and unfortunately, just made contact. We hadn’t really had any moments today or anything really to put us in a spot where we would intentionally run into each other.”
Reddick was also ready for the helmet throw. He saw Dillon wind up and go for it but wasn’t sure where the helmet landed.
“I thought I missed it,” Reddick said. “It doesn’t count then if it hit the ground first.”
Reddick finished second. Dillon left Pocono with his seventh DNF of the season.
“I’m not really (mad) about (the hit), I’m just (mad) about (how) it hasn’t been a great season for us,” Dillon said. “We’re having a pretty solid run, minding our own. He knows why he got to that position which is because the No. 6 (Brad Keselowski) got tight off the corner and he got a run, tried to split us three wide, and we wrecked into Turn 1.”
Denny Hamlin prevailed in a tight door-to-door bump-and-go pass on Kyle Larson with seven laps remaining to claim a historic all-time best seventh NASCAR Cup Series victory at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway – the win in Sunday’s HighPoint.com 400 also marking …
Denny Hamlin prevailed in a tight door-to-door bump-and-go pass on Kyle Larson with seven laps remaining to claim a historic all-time best seventh NASCAR Cup Series victory at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway – the win in Sunday’s HighPoint.com 400 also marking Hamlin’s 50th career trophy and second of the 2023 season.
The race ended under caution for a last lap incident elsewhere on track, and the Pocono crowd voiced its displeasure, booing loudly 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. Hamlin, 42, maintained the action was just close-quarter racing for a win. Larson, who finished 21st after the contact, disagreed and was none too happy with his good friend and golf partner.
“Both guys wrecked themselves,’’ Hamlin said of Larson and contact he had earlier with Larson’s teammate Alex Bowman. “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.’’
“I love it, I love it,’’ Hamlin said, acknowledging the boos.
“I thought we had the best car and the strategy worked out. Just so happy we’re winning these races we should win.’’
Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion, did not mince words after climbing out of his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Instead of a top-5 finish – or possible victory – he recovered from the incident to cross the finish line 21st.
“First off, really proud of my team, they got us in position to race for the win,’’ said Larson, who did earn the Stage 2 win – his third of the year. “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, not that I’m sure he’ll say, ‘I’m sorry,’ after this but it is what it is.
“Just move on and try to go to Richmond, where we won earlier this year.
“It is what it is. Yeah, we’re friends. Yes, this makes things awkward. But he’s always right. All the buddies know, Denny’s always right. It is what it is. I’m not gonna let it tarnish our friendship off track. But I am (mad), and I feel like I should be (mad).
“I think at this point I have the right,’’ Larson said of potentially racing Hamlin differently on track going forward. “Like I’ve said, I’ve never had to apologize to him about anything I’ve done on the racetrack. I can count four or five times where he’s had to reach out to me and say, ‘Sorry, I’ve put you in a bad spot there.’ So eventually, like he says, you have to start racing people a certain way to get the respect back.’’
Hamlin earned Toyota its 600th career win in the three NASCAR national series combined and led his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. across the finish line. Tyler Reddick, who drives for the 23XI Racing Toyota team that Hamlin is part-owner of, finished third. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick and the remaining two JGR cars of rookie Ty Gibbs and Christopher Bell rounded out the top six.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Harrison Burton and Hendrick’s Chase Elliott rounded out the top 10. It marked the second top-10 of the season for the 22 year old Burton. The effort from Elliott leaves him 59-points out of the 16-driver playoff pool with five more regular season races remaining for the 2020 series champion to race for another trophy, after missing six races in 2023.
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Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, the race polesitter William Byron, led the most laps (60) of the day, but finished 24th. He now trails Truex by 30 points for the regular season title.
Varying pit strategies – and in particular on the final green flag run – changed the leaderboard in the last 30-40 laps of the race. Some drivers that hadn’t run top five all day postponed their last stop hoping for a caution flag. However, the day’s strongest cars were in position to settle the trophy; some – such as Larson and Hamlin – on a two-tire pit stop and some – such as Truex and Byron – with four fresh tires.
There were 11 cautions on the day and incidents on three consecutive restarts after the first stage break impacted the playoff situations of multiple drivers.
The first re-start following the stage break not only involved the stage winner Joey Logano, but also collected Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez who went into the race a mere one point behind Michael McDowell for that 16th and final playoff position. McDowell’s car suffered some damage too, but he was able to drive on. Logano’s No. 22 Penske Racing Ford was towed back and repaired but Suarez’s No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet pit needing extensive work and ultimately drove back to the garage.
With five races remaining, Suarez dropped to 18th in the championship standings and his deficit to 16th place McDowell now stands at 23 points..
“At the end of the day it’s our fault; we shouldn’t be back there with those guys, squirrels,’’ a frustrated Suarez said, adding, “It was a racing incident, but we shouldn’t be racing those guys. We can only control what we can control.”
The summer run to the playoffs continues next week with the Cook Out 400 Sunday afternoon at Richmond (Va.) Raceway (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Harvick is the defending race winner. Larson won at Richmond this spring.
Joey Logano wants NASCAR to find a better way of getting a car back to pit road when they are stuck on four flat tires as he was Sunday at Pocono Raceway. “It just doesn’t make any sense,” Logano said. “We’ve been fighting these cars for two years …
Joey Logano wants NASCAR to find a better way of getting a car back to pit road when they are stuck on four flat tires as he was Sunday at Pocono Raceway.
“It just doesn’t make any sense,” Logano said. “We’ve been fighting these cars for two years now with four flat tires when a car spins out and you get this long, horrible ride back. It’s rough. Your head is bouncing around in there.
“It’s stupid. It’s just really dumb that we can’t just put four tires on a truck.”
The incident happened on lap 36 when the field went into Turn 1 to start the second stage. Logano, who had won the first stage, was cycled to mid-pack as the field was split on strategy and the No. 22 team pitted after the stage. Logano was tagged from behind when he tried to take a run through the center.
He spun to the outside wall, hitting on the driver’s side. In the process, all four tires went flat and the safety crews initially tried to push Logano around the track. The Next Gen car, however, becomes stuck on the track with four flat tires, and Logano needed to be towed back to pit road and in the process, lost multiple laps.
It was when his Ford Mustang was drug from Turn 1 to pit road that Logano felt the most damage was done. He was forced to exit the race after not meeting the minimum speed.
“If we can put four tires on one of (the tow trucks) with a jack and an impact that can just change the tires and let us come back, instead of dragging the car two miles around the racetrack… It’s just stupid,” Logano said. “It’s not fun for anybody — the poor guy driving the tow truck, the poor driver getting his head knocked around for two miles, and the poor team that’s got to fix the underbodies of these things after they get dragged around…
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“It’s dumb. I don’t know. It is what it is, but it seems like it has a very easy fix. I’ve brought this up before, but I guess it doesn’t matter.”
Logano finished 35th, the second driver out of the race. He retired a few laps after Daniel Suarez was forced to do so after also being caught up in the same incident.
Even if Logano was able to get four new tires on his car to drive back to pit road, he doesn’t believe he would have stayed in the race. While being drug around didn’t help, the damage was already done from hitting the wall. Getting Logano off the track quicker would have saved the field from wasting laps and Logano getting rocked around in the car.
“Here’s the deal — I talked to someone today and they (the track crew) see a race car once a year,” Logano said. “That’s not fair to the people working out there on the racetrack that they don’t have a lot of experience. They may be doing it for years, so don’t put it in the context that these guys don’t know what they’re doing, but the experience level of doing something every single week versus seeing a race car once a year is tough.
“That’s really hard and we’re all in a position out there while I’m sitting there watching cars go by me with a chance of getting a good finish being left as I’m trying to communicate to somebody and they can’t hear me, or listen, or they’re trying to figure out what to do. They don’t know that you can’t push a car with four flat tires on it. The car doesn’t steer. I’m trying to tell them to hook it up and they kept trying to push me. We wasted a lap-and-a-half before they tried to hook it. There’s a better way to do it.”
Kyle Larson felt he was “used up” by Denny Hamlin as it was the only way the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was going to beat him Sunday at Pocono Raceway. “He gave me a real push down the frontstretch and I was nervous of the move that happened because he …
Kyle Larson felt he was “used up” by Denny Hamlin as it was the only way the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was going to beat him Sunday at Pocono Raceway.
“He gave me a real push down the frontstretch and I was nervous of the move that happened because he made it work on Ross (Chastain) last year, and he dirtied him up,” Larson said. “He knows (he did), and Ross deserved it last year for all those times he got into Denny. I felt like I didn’t. I deserved to be raced with respect, at least through Turn 1, but he knew that was going to be his only opportunity to beat me with how bad dirty (it) was.
“I got used up. It’s just unfortunate. I feel like we’ve had a handful of run-ins; I’ve never had to reach out to apologize. He’s always been the one that’s reached out to me and been like, ‘Hey man, I’m sorry. I messed up there a little bit,’ or ‘Sorry, I put you in a bad spot,’ or ‘Sorry, I hurt your day.’ I’ve never had to do that to him. Sure, maybe there’s been times he’s been frustrated with me, but I’ve never hurt his results. I should have at least been top two; I finished 21st.”
Larson and Hamlin were racing tight off Turn 1 on a restart with seven laps to go. The two went up the track coming off the corner with Larson running out of room on the outside lane and hitting the wall. Hamlin went by into the race lead.
A caution for an unrelated incident quickly followed. Under the yellow flag, Larson drove up alongside Hamlin on the frontstretch and hit Hamlin in the driver’s side door.
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“In my eyes, hey, I could have 10 more playoff points, two more wins right now if not for (Hamlin),” Larson said. “Yeah, I’m (mad) and I should be.”
Larson missed out on a win at Kansas Speedway earlier this year in a battle with Hamlin. On the last lap, the No. 11 ran up on the back of Larson off Turn 2 and the Hendrick car hit the wall. But Larson said that situation, unlike Pocono, was more a racing deal.
“I would have loved to have got to racing him through (Turns) 3 and 4 there,” Larson said. “Today, I didn’t even get to race him. He ran into him before I ever hit the wall. And we all know the aero stuff that goes on when somebody gets that close to you. His hood flaps were up. He was touching me before we ever got to the exit.
“I obviously lost the handle on my car, was out of the throttle, and hit the wall and tore up my car and finished 21st.”
Because the two are friends, Larson said things will be awkward, but what happens on the racetrack stays on the racetrack. He feels he does a good job of separating those two things.
“He’s still a friend,” Larson said. “He races me like an (expletive) but is still a friend. I’m just mad right now. I’m sure he’ll say some dumb stuff on Monday night or whatever, and I’ll get more mad for a little while and then I’ll eventually get over it.”
Daniel Suarez’s NASCAR Cup Series playoff hopes took a blow Sunday at Pocono Raceway with an exit after the first stage. He was collected in a restart crash on lap 36 going into Turn 1. The Trackhouse Racing driver was running on the inside lane …
Daniel Suarez’s NASCAR Cup Series playoff hopes took a blow Sunday at Pocono Raceway with an exit after the first stage.
He was collected in a restart crash on lap 36 going into Turn 1. The Trackhouse Racing driver was running on the inside lane when he was tagged by Bubba Wallace, who was sandwiched between Suarez and Michael McDowell as the field took evasive action when Joey Logano was sent spinning.
Suarez’s No. 99 Chevrolet hit the outside wall with the nose. The team made initial repairs to the car, but it began leaking oil when Suarez returned to the track.
“I got turned around on the right rear on a very fast straightaway,” Suarez said. “Just lucky we didn’t get wrecked big time, but unfortunately, we couldn’t continue anymore. But at the end of the day, it’s our fault. We shouldn’t be back there with those guys.
“We fought the balance of the car in the first stage. We lost a bunch of track position. We kind of got it back a little bit. I felt like once we got the balance, we were going to be able to drive the front. But we didn’t get the opportunity to and got wrecked before that. It was a racing incident, but we shouldn’t be back there racing with those guys anyway.”
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Suarez started 17th and finished 12th in the first stage. He and Logano were among the teams who elected to pit at the stage break and were lined up mid-pack for the restart.
“(I’m) definitely frustrated because I feel like we’re better than this,” Suarez said. “I’m frustrated also because I feel like guys are wrecking each other, and I’m the one that ended up out of the race without being in their mess. But what are you going to do – sometimes you’re on the good end of it, and sometimes you’re on the bad end of it. Unfortunately, today, I was on the short end of it.”
The first driver out of the HighPoint.com 400, Suarez will finish 36th. He will fall further behind the cutline after entering the weekend one point out of a playoff spot.
“It’s not great; it’s not ideal,” Suarez said. “But I have to control what I can control, and I cannot control some of the other guys. Like I said, in my mind, we shouldn’t be racing back there. We had a car capable of running in the top 10, top 15 at least, and we were running in the 20s because we missed the balance of the car in the first stage.
Austin Hill survived an early race pit road speeding penalty, gambled on fuel strategy and prevailed in an incredible wheel-to-wheel run to the checkered flag in overtime to claim his fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season in the Explore …
Austin Hill survived an early race pit road speeding penalty, gambled on fuel strategy and prevailed in an incredible wheel-to-wheel run to the checkered flag in overtime to claim his fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season in the Explore the Pocono Mountains 225 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway on Saturday.
As important as the victory for the 29-year old Georgia-native, his good day combined with an uncharacteristically disappointing day for his closest rivals in the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship standings gave him a huge boost in the points with only seven races remaining to set the 12-driver playoff field. He trailed championship leader John Hunter Nemechek by 33 points before the green flag and took the checkered flag now only 13 behind.
On a dramatic – at times chaotic – overtime restart, Hill had to get around the day’s most dominant driver, JR Motorsports’ Josh Berry. His No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was behind Berry on the restart and gave him a big push at the green flag, but Berry got loose and Hill got around him to lead his first lap on the afternoon.
Both Berry and his JRM teammate Justin Allgaier hit the wall in separate accidents on the final lap bringing out the yellow flag and the race ultimately ended under caution with Hill out front.
“We didn’t have the best car all day,’’ Hill said. “Andy (Petree) and all the guys back at RCR engines worked really hard. We got the car better. I thought we were maybe a top-five or top-seven car. I didn’t think we had anything for the leader today.
“On that restart he drove into one and got really loose into the entry. … We drag raced down the backstretch and once I cleared (Berry) I knew I just had to hit my marks.
“Such a special win,’’ he added. “Obviously with fuel saving, we didn’t know if we were going to make it and it was on my mind going into the Tunnel Turn (Turn 2) that I had to get back to the start/finish line. I had enough fuel to do a burnout so we saved enough.’’
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It was especially heartbreaking for Berry, who dominated all the race’s major statistics. For the first time in his career he swept both stage wins, and he started from pole position for the first time this year, leading a race high 51 of the 92 laps. He finished 24th after his No. 8 JRM Chevrolet trailed up track and into the wall racing Hill — bringing out the final caution that ended the race.
“Just a wild restart there,’’ said Berry, who will take over for retiring NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford next year.
“The No. 21 (Hill) was behind me and gave me a really good push but pushed me a little longer and harder than I wanted into Turn 1 and got me into the marbles. … I was able to battle back and race with him, tried to time the run, but got there a little quicker.
“Just a racing deal.,’’ he added. “Hate we didn’t get the finish we deserved today. Just really proud of the car we brought today and I know if we continue to have that kind of speed we’ll win plenty of races. Just a tough way to end but still a lot of positives from the day.’’
His JR Motorsports teammate Sammy Smith finished second to Hill, followed by former NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott, who was competing in his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race in two years – driving the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in a paint scheme honoring his team owner Rick Hendrick’s late son, Ricky Hendrick.
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Riley Herbst finished fourth, also coming out on the right side of fuel-save gamble. Kaulig Racing’s Daniel Hemric was fifth.
“We finished fourth and that’s what we needed at a track I don’t particularly love,’’ Herbst said. “Lucky to get out of here with a top-five.’’
The effort was good enough to keep Herbst in the points picture for the championship. He is ranked 12th – the final playoff transfer position – 26 points ahead of Parker Kligerman, who finished ninth Saturday.
Sammy Smith, Brandon Jones, Brett Moffitt, Kligerman and another NASCAR Cup Series regular, Daniel Suarez (Kaulig Racing) rounded out the top 10.
A mid-race incident with two of the three championship leaders – Nemechek and third place Cole Custer – changed the complexion on the regular season title chase. On a restart just over halfway through the race – with both Nemechek and Custer running inside the top 10 — Nemechek hit the wall and washed back across the track, his Toyota hitting Custer’s Ford. Custer was third in the championship entering the race.
Both teams made quick repairs to the cars, but they were non-competitive for the remainder of the race. Nemechek finished 32nd and Custer 33rd.
Seven races remain to set the 12-driver championship field. Next week the NASCAR Xfinity Series resumes action Saturday in the Henry 180 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI. (3 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
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 …
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).”
