NASCAR: Hamlin sets Pocono wins record
Jul. 25—LONG POND — Denny Hamlin overcame an early-race spin and a late-race incident with Ross Chastain to win the M&M's Fan Appreciation 400 on Sunday at Pocono Raceway.
The win was Hamlin's third win of the season in the No. 11 Toyota and his seventh at Pocono, which breaks a tie with Jeff Gordon for the most at the 2.5-mile triangular track.
Starting on the pole, Hamlin spun in Turn 2 on Lap 41, dropping him back in the field.
He gradually worked his way back to the front and was up to third by Lap 110. He passed Busch for second on Lap 130 and set his sights on the leader Chastain.
On Lap 138, Ryan Blaney spun and crashed coming off Turn 3 to bring out the caution. On the Lap 143 restart, Chastain was on the outside and Hamlin on the inside as they headed into Turn 1. Hamlin pinched Chastain up the track, Chastain's car got loose and hit the wall. Kevin Harvick's car was also involved in the incident.
Hamlin and Chastain have had history this season. At Gateway and Atlanta, Chastain got into the back of Hamlin and spun him. Hamlin vowed payback at some point.
When the race went green again on Lap 148, Hamlin was able to hold off Busch the rest of the way and beat his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate to the checkered flag by 0.927 seconds.
Chase Elliott finished third, Tyler Reddick was fourth and Daniel Suarez fifth. Rounding out the top 10 were Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Michael McDowell, Martin Truex Jr. and Bubba Wallace.
Ty Gibbs finished 18th in the race. Gibbs, who finished second in Saturday's Xfinity Series race at Pocono, made his Cup Series debut filling in for Kurt Busch in the No. 45 Toyota. Busch was ruled out with a concussion after he crashed during qualifying Saturday.
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