NASCAR Cup Series: Denny Hamlin wins 2019 Gander RV 400

Denny Hamlin saved enough fuel to secure his third victory of the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season at Pocono Raceway in the Gander RV 400.

Coming off of a frustrating second place finish in last weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin secured his fifth victory at Pocono Raceway and his third victory of the 36-race season by winning the season’s 21st race, the Gander RV 400.

Hamlin started this 163-lap race, which was scheduled to be a 160-lap race but went into overtime as a result of a late incident, around the three-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Pocono Raceway oval in Long Pond, Pennsylvania in ninth place in his #11 Toyota, and he won it by 0.341 seconds over teammate Erik Jones in second in his #20 Toyota.

Jones has now recorded three consecutive top three finishes. Martin Truex Jr. completed a top three sweep for Toyota and for Joe Gibbs Racing by finishing in third place in his #19 Toyota.

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Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron was the highest finishing Chevrolet driver of the race. He finished in fourth place in his #24 Chevrolet. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson finished in fifth in his #42 Chevrolet.

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick was the highest finishing Ford driver of the race after starting from the pole position. He finished in sixth place in his #4 Ford.

Richard Childress Racing rookie Daniel Hemric, Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney rounded out the top 10 by finishing in seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th place in their #8 Chevrolet, #2 Ford, #18 Toyota and #12 Ford, respectively.

Blaney overcame a spin and contact with the wall to finish in 10th place after falling one lap off the lead lap.

Hamlin and the rest of the frontrunners needed to save fuel over the course of most of the race’s third and final stage, otherwise Busch would have practically walked away with a victory due to his pit strategy.

A victory for Busch in this race would have been his second victory at the “Tricky Triangle” of the season, his third consecutive victory at the track and his fourth victory in the last five races there.

Fuel saving coupled with two late caution flag periods allowed them to do that, even to the point where they could go 163 laps as opposed to 160.

The race featured a total of nine lead changes among five drivers. Aside of Hamlin, four drivers led at least one lap of the race. Those drivers were Jones, Harvick, Busch and Hendrick Motorsports’ Jimmie Johnson. Harvick led more laps than anybody else in the field with 63 laps led. Busch won stage one while Johnson won stage two en route to a 15th place finish in his #48 Chevrolet.

The race featured a total of seven caution flag periods. One of the two stage-ending caution flag periods ended stage two despite the fact that it took place due to an on-track incident. Of the 38 drivers who started the race, 34 finished it and 25 finished on the lead lap.

Here are the full race results of the 2019 Gander RV 400 at Pocono Raceway.

Race Results
1st – Denny Hamlin
2nd – Erik Jones
3rd – Martin Truex Jr.
4th – William Byron
5th – Kyle Larson
6th – Kevin Harvick
7th – Daniel Hemric
8th – Brad Keselowski
9th – Kyle Busch
10th – Ryan Blaney
11th – Clint Bowyer
12th – Aric Almirola
13th – Joey Logano
14th – Ryan Newman
15th – Jimmie Johnson
16th – Chris Buescher
17th – Matt DiBenedetto
18th – Paul Menard
19th – Austin Dillon
20th – Alex Bowman
21st – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
22nd – Darrell Wallace Jr.
23rd – Matt Tifft
24th – Daniel Suarez
25th – Michael McDowell
26th – Corey LaJoie
27th – Kurt Busch
28th – Landon Cassill
29th – Ty Dillon
30th – Ross Chastain
31st – Quin Houff
32nd – Reed Sorenson
33rd – B.J. McLeod
34th – Austin Theriault
35th – Josh Bilicki
36th – David Ragan
37th – Ryan Preece
38th – Chase Elliott

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The Go Bowling at The Glen is the next race on the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, and it is scheduled to take place next Sunday, August 4. This race is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network from Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET.

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