Denny Hamlin secures Gander RV 400 win
LONG POND, Pa. — Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 car might have been running on fumes, but its driver was plenty fired up after navigating his way to victory on in the Gander RV 400 at Pocono Raceway.
Hamlin, whose win was the fifth of his career at Pocono, finished ahead of Erik Jones and Martin Truex Jr. to complete a 1-2-3 sweep for Joe Gibbs Racing. Kyle Larson, also running for JGR, finished fifth.
“This track’s been really good to me,” Hamlin said. “It’s where I got my first win, and it’s pretty special for that reason . ... Five wins — I don’t know, it doesn’t really even register with me.”
Despite the fact that much of the pre-race discussion centered around strategy for handling the raceway’s three corners, which have earned the track its ‘Tricky Triangle’ title, planning seemed to go out the window late Sunday afternoon. It looked as though the Gander race’s winner would simply be the last car to deplete its fuel supply.
That said, Hamlin was clear that he thought the PJ1 traction compound in the corners was key on the way to securing his third win of the season. He had needed to pass on the outside to get around Truex on lap 142 and the leading Jones on lap 143.
“(The compound is) how I got around (Truex and Jones) on the outside,” he said. “Certainly, we had a better race than we would’ve had without it.”
Pole-winner Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch led for 62 and 56 laps, respectively, but neither was able to find the front of the pack when it mattered. Busch won Stage 1 of the race and had many wondering if he’d become the first to sweep Pocono’s two Cup Series races since Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2014, but a small collision forced him to head to the pit road. He finished ninth, and Harvick crossed the line sixth.
Having last visited the pit for a stop on lap 115, Hamlin had long needed to refuel even before the pace car led the field across the finish line at the end of the 160th lap around the track. Hamlin’s crew chief, Chris Gabehart, was adamant, therefore, that Hamlin save as much fuel as he could from the leader’s position.
“To win the race, he had to trust me, so he didn’t have a choice,” crew chief Chris Gabehart joked. “Get the lead and we’ll worry about the fuel situation later. If we don’t make it, we don’t make it, but we’re going for the win.”
Hamlin is now fourth in the Cup Series standings, with 722 points. Next weekend, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will head to Watkins Glen.