LONG POND, Pa. – Denny Hamlin returned to victory lane Sunday at Pocono Raceway a year after his first-place finish was thrown out, giving him a track-record seven wins and 50 overall in his Cup career.
Tyler Reddick crossed the finish line second as the race ended under caution.
There were 11 caution periods for a total of 44 laps.
Thirty of the 36 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
Kyle Larson expressed his displeasure with race winner Denny Hamlin after a late-race scrape between the two off-track friends thwarted his bid for victory in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway.
Larson led twice for 24 of the 160 laps in Sunday’s HighPoint.com 400, but he relinquished the top spot on Lap 154 after Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota drifted up the track and forced his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet into the outside wall in Turn 1.
When the yellow flag flew for Justin Haley’s crash in the next corner, Larson pulled up alongside Hamlin’s car and brushed him on the front stretch as the field slowed.
Hamlin went on to notch his win. Larson lost his competitive pace and dipped to a 20th-place finish at the checkered flag.
Martin Truex Jr. remains the championship leader after Pocono with a 30-point advantage over second-place William Byron.
Stage 1 Winner: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
SHR Race Finish:
- Kevin Harvick (Started 4th, Finished 4th / Running, completed 160 of 160 laps)
- Aric Almirola (Started 27th, Finished 12th / Running, completed 160 of 160 laps)
- Chase Briscoe (Started 29th, Finished 29th / Running, completed 160 of 160 laps)
- Ryan Preece (Started 34th, Finished 31st / Running, completed 159 of 160 laps)
SHR Points:
- Kevin Harvick (8th with 601 points, 110 out of first)
- Aric Almirola (25th with 352 points, 359 out of first)
- Ryan Preece (27th with 341 points, 370 out of first)
- Chase Briscoe (31st with 257 points, 454 out of first)
Harvick earned his sixth top-five and ninth top-10 of the season. It was his 16th top-five and 23rd top-10 in 44 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Pocono.
Harvick’s 16 top-fives and 23 top-10s at Pocono are the most among active NASCAR Cup Series drivers. Denny Hamlin is next best with 15 top-fives and 22 top-10s.
“I would’ve rather won, but I think we just have to keep ourselves in the mix, keep doing what we’re doing, and you just never know how these things are going to play out,” said Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Peach Ford Mustang. “We needed the front in clean air and we never really got that. Our car just struggled in traffic on that first lap of the restarts to get going with the front tires, but it was a strange race. I didn’t ever think that that strategy would play out like it did, running where we were and then having it cycle all through. You’ve just got to keep going every lap. They know what they’re doing up there and let it play out.”
This was Harvick’s second straight top-five. He finished fourth last week at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.
Since joining SHR in 2014, Harvick has only four finishes outside of the top 10 at Pocono – a span of 18 races.
Almirola earned his fifth top-15 of the season and his seventh top-15 in 21 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Pocono.
This was Almirola’s eighth straight finish of 16th or better at Pocono.
“Today was a tough day, but I’m glad we were able to finish on the lead lap,” said Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang. “We’ve had success at Pocono with HighPoint.com and I really wanted to get them a good finish in their race. We still have a lot of work to do on the No. 14 team, but I have all the confidence in these guys and I know we’ll figure it out.”
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Cook Out 400 on Sunday, July 30 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. The race begins at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
