Monday Hot Lap 7/24/23: Hamlin wins at Pocono (Race Recap) + Haley's move to Rick Ware Racing
Photo Courtesy: Caleb Spicer
Denny Hamlin redeemed himself after being disqualified at Pocono Raceway a year ago and won the 2023 HighPoint.com 400 at Pocono, though not without sparking a fair bit of controversy. It was the 50th win of his NASCAR Cup Series career, all wins coming in the JGR No. 11 which he has driven since his Cup debut. It was his second win of the season and he is currently third in the driver point standings with five races to go in the regular season.
Cautions came in bunches in the race as there were 11 total accounting for 44 yellow flag laps in the 160-lap race.
There was just one caution in the first stage as JJ Yeley in the Rick Ware Racing No. 15 got loose and spun off of Turn 2 and hit the inside wall. Despite the incident, Yeley was still able to finish on the lead lap in 26th.
Team Penske No. 22 driver Joey Logano took the lead shortly after the restart and led all the way to a Stage 1 victory, but a lot of the stronger cars opted to pit before the end of the stage to gain track position entering Stage 2.
On the Stage 2 restart, Logano got spun into the wall entering Turn 1 after 23XI Racing No. 45 driver Tyler Reddick moved off the outside wall and made contact with him. The crash popped all four of Logano’s tires and he needed a tow back to pit road.
There was some miscommunication between Logano and a track worker and Logano was caught on his in-car camera audio explicitly voicing his frustrations.
At the same time, Trackhouse Racing No. 99 driver Daniel Suárez spun into Turn 1 and hit the outside wall head-on which resulted in heavy damage to the nose of his car. Both drivers DNFed as a result of the incident as Logano finished 35th and Suárez finished 36th.
On the next restart, Live Fast Motorsports No. 78 driver BJ McLeod moved up the track and got into Austin Dillon, the driver of the Richard Childress Racing No. 3, and Dillon spun up into Turn 1 bringing out another caution. But it did not end there.
JGR No. 20 driver Christopher Bell gave Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 driver Kyle Larson a push entering Turn 1 on the next restart and Larson spun and reared into the outside wall.
Counting the end Stage 1 caution, 16 of the first 19 laps of Stage 2 were run under yellow and not one of the green flag laps was completed all the way through.
After the three-straight Turn 1 cautions the race stayed green for a long run with pole-winner William Byron, driver of the HMS No. 24, leading.
Near the end of the stage on Lap 92, Bell brought out a stage-ending caution after spinning out, right as Larson was about to pit from the race lead. Larson was able to stay out to claim the stage win. However, being cut off from pit road put him in a tight situation with his fuel level, but he managed to get his car around under yellow until pit road opened avoiding a crisis.
In Turn 1 on Lap 106, several laps after the Final Stage restart, Austin Dillon turned down into Tyler Reddick which sent Dillon tail-first into a hard collision with the outside wall ending his race. After he got out of his car Dillon showed his frustration with his former RCR teammate by throwing his helmet at the No. 45 car (and missing) as the field made its way back around under caution.
Martin Truex Jr., the driver of the JGR No. 19, led from the restart over the next green flag run after taking a lead early in the Final Stage. He relinquished the lead when he took his turn to pit and Larson was able to get in front of the leaders during the late green flag pit window.
On Lap 143 a caution waved and any drivers that had not pitted made their way down pit road and Larson moved back to the lead. The caution came as a result of contact between the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14, Chase Briscoe, and Ty Dillon in the Spire Motorsports No. 77. Dillon shoved Briscoe through Turn 4 and sent him sideways entering the front stretch.
Thus started a slew of late-race cautions. One lap following the restart, HMS No. 48 driver Alex Bowman, lost control of the back end of his car as Hamlin made a run toward his rear bumper and he spun out in Turn 3.
On the first lap of the next restart, Kaulig Racing No. 31 driver Justin Haley spun in Turn 2 which brought out another caution, but not before Hamlin had taken the lead. In Turn 1 on the restart, Hamlin ran Larson up the track and put him into the wall. Larson showed his displeasure with the way he was being raced and he door slammed Hamlin under caution.
The race resumed with three laps to go and Hamlin got a strong run on the restart.
With two laps to go Ryan Preece in the SHR No. 41 spun off of Turn 1 and onto the backstretch. Race control left the race green in hopes that he would be able to get his engine refired but he was unable to get back rolling and NASCAR waved the caution after Hamlin had crossed for the white flag, ending the race. It’s Hamlin’s 7th career win at Pocono, the track at which he won his first Cup Series race back in 2006.
Next week the Cup Series is at Richmond Raceway for the second time this season, this time for the Cook Out 400.
Earlier this year at Richmond in the Toyota Owners 400, Larson earned the win on a late restart after his teammate Byron had led a race-high 117 laps. The Hendrick cars are not running as hot as they were early in the season so it will be interesting to see if they can repeat as a team or if another team is going to dethrone them.
The Cook Out 400 is scheduled for Sunday, July 30 at 3:00 p.m. ET on USA.
Full Race Results at bottom*
Denny Hamlin Thoughts:
After the race, Hamlin denied accountability for running Larson up into the fence going as far as saying that he ‘didn’t touch him.’
Video replay says otherwise, and it is not the first time this season that Hamlin has put Larson into the wall near the end of a race to take the lead. He turned Larson sideways on the final lap at Kansas earlier in the year though there was a lot less deniability in that incident. He was also penalized for intentionally wrecking Ross Chastain at Phoenix earlier this season.
To me, the style of racing is not the problem. If you want to race guys hard through contact for wins that’s fine. But you’d better own up to it.
Hamlin opted for a smug self-righteous tone post-race as he acted as if there was nothing he did that influenced the situation. There’s an attitude that needs to be carried to drive that way and to still be entitled to the competitive respect of the field, and Hamlin did not show that after his win.
Justin Haley Rick Ware Racing Thoughts:
Last week it was announced that Kaulig Racing driver Justin Haley had signed with Rick Ware Racing for the 2024 season. The move came as a surprise to some who saw Haley as a cornerpiece for growth at Kaulig, for him to be joining a team that has not been too much more than a backmarker.
However, I remain optimistic that Haley might provide a spark that could lead to growth for RWR. He excels at road courses and superspeedways, the two-track types that the team has shown its best efforts. If Haley can get RWR running inside of the top 20 more consistently he may be able to help the team grow similarly to how Corey LaJoie has helped elevate Spire Motorsports.
If he’s able to do his job with RWR there could also be some solid opportunities in the future now that he is aligned with Ford as a manufacturer.
Road America Thoughts:
Road America is one of the best road courses in the country and should be on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule. It’s awesome that the NASCAR Xfinity Series is running the track this weekend, but if any of the three series should be running a one-off this week it is the Truck regular-season finale at Richmond.
There’s no reason that Richmond needs to be on the schedule twice with the current Next Gen short track setup. IndyCar put on a great race at the track in its first race there since the repave in late 2022 and Xfinity is about to show how well stock cars can run there as well.
Hopefully, we see the track back on the schedule for 2024 because the Cup cars have raced really well on road courses this season. The Chicago Street Race was a smashing success and Circuit of the Americas was one of the most entertaining and exciting races of the 2023 season to this point. NASCAR road racing is great and the series should not shy away from running a few more dates over the next couple seasons.
Richmond/Road America Weekend Schedule:
As of Mon. 7/24 all times ET
Friday:
5:00 Xfinity Practice and Qualifying (Road America) - USA
5:05 Truck Practice and Qualifying (Richmond) - No TV
Saturday:
12:35 Cup Practice and Qualifying (Richmond) - USA
3:00 Xfinity Road America 180 (Road America) - NBC
7:30 Truck Worldwide Express 250 (Richmond) - FS1
Sunday:
3:00 Cup Cook Out 400 (Richmond) - USA