NASCAR: Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick swap places as Hamlin wins

Denny Hamlin tied Jeff Gordon with the most NASCAR Cup Series wins, six, at Pocono Raceway by winning Sunday’s Pocono 350.

One day after finishing in second place at Pocono Raceway behind Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick as Harvick secured his first NASCAR Cup Series victory in his 39th attempt at the track, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin won at the Tricky Triangle ahead of Harvick in second after a late strategy call to pit several laps after Harvick did.

Hamlin’s victory in Sunday’s 140-lap Pocono 350 at the three-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) triangle in Long Pond, Pennsylvania is his fourth victory of the 2020 season, which leads all drivers through 15 races. He has now recorded four consecutive top four finishes.

It is also his sixth career victory at Pocono Raceway, which ties Jeff Gordon atop the all-time wins list at the track. He won the race by 3.068 seconds in his #11 Toyota ahead of Harvick’s #4 Ford.

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Joe Gibbs Racing’s Erik Jones finished in a season-high third place in his #20 Toyota after wrecking out of yesterday’s Pocono Organics 325. One day after no Chevrolet drivers finished in the top 10, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott led all Chevrolet drivers with a fourth place finish in his #9 Chevrolet.

Four races ago, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola had no top six finishes this year. Now he has recorded four straight top five results, as he finished in third place yesterday and fifth today in his #10 Ford.

Wood Brothers Racing’s Matt DiBenedetto, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Clint Bowyer, Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top 10 by finishing in sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th place in their #21 Ford, #24 Chevrolet, #14 Ford, #88 Chevrolet and #19 Toyota, respectively.

This race featured 12 lead changes among eight drivers. Hamlin led more laps than anybody else in the field with 49 laps led. The race’s other leaders were Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch, Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski, Harvick, Truex, Almirola and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch.

JTG Daugherty Racing’s Ryan Preece was set to start the race from the pole position after the top 20 invert from Saturday’s race, but his #37 Chevrolet was forced to drop to the rear due to a pre-race engine change.

That allowed Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon to lead the field to the green flag, although it was Kurt Busch who led the first lap. Dillon did not lead the race. Busch won stage one and Keselowski won stage two.

The race featured eight caution flag periods, including two to end the first two stages and one for lightning and rain that caused there to be doubt as to whether or not the race would go the full 140-lap distance since Pocono Raceway does not have lights. This race was the fourth in a row to be impacted in some way by rain and the ninth so far this season.

Among the notable incidents which brought out caution flag periods were the crash of Leavine Family Racing rookie Christopher Bell, who had worked his way up to third place, and the crash involving Blaney and Kyle Busch.

Busch was approaching the backmarker car of Rick Ware Racing’s Garrett Smilthley in turn two and had to check up while Blaney came in hot and turned the #18 Toyota.

This wreck took place after those two drivers had battled for the lead and then made pit stops. Blaney’s car was damaged after the incident and he ended up finishing one lap off the lead lap in 22nd place in his #12 Ford.

Of the 40 drivers who started the race, only three didn’t finish it, with those three being Bell, Busch and Front Row Motorsports’ Michael McDowell. The top 17 drivers finished on the lead lap.

Here are the full race results of the 2020 Pocono 350 at Pocono Raceway.

Race Results
1st – Denny Hamlin
2nd – Kevin Harvick
3rd – Erik Jones
4th – Chase Elliott
5th – Aric Almirola
6th – Matt DiBenedetto
7th – William Byron
8th – Clint Bowyer
9th – Alex Bowman
10th – Martin Truex Jr.
11th – Brad Keselowski
12th – Matt Kenseth
13th – Kurt Busch
14th – Austin Dillon
15th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
16th – Jimmie Johnson
17th – Cole Custer
18th – Ryan Newman
19th – John Hunter Nemechek
20th – Bubba Wallace
21st – Corey LaJoie
22nd – Ryan Blaney
23rd – Ty Dillon
24th – Joey Logano
25th – Ryan Preece
26th – Daniel Suarez
27th – Brennan Poole
28th – J.J. Yeley
29th – Timmy Hill
30th – James Davison
31st – Quin Houff
32nd – Garrett Smithley
33rd – Joey Gase
34th – Josh Bilicki
35th – Tyler Reddick
36th – Chris Buescher
37th – B.J. McLeod
38th – Kyle Busch
39th – Christopher Bell
40th – Michael McDowell

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The next race on the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Brickyard 400, officially named the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400. This race is scheduled to take place next Sunday, July 5, and it is set to be broadcast live on NBC beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET.

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