Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Autosport
Autosport
Sport
Jim Utter

NASCAR Cup Pocono: Hamlin pushes Larson into the wall for 50th career win

After the final round of green flag pitstops, Larson and Hamlin battled for the lead on a restart with seven of 160 laps remaining – just after Alex Bowman lost control of his car racing Hamlin and crashed at Turn 3.

Hamlin got to the inside of Larson, drifted up the track and nudged him briefly into the wall. Hamlin skirted by to claim the lead and then held off Tyler Reddick until a last-lap caution that confirmed Hamlin’s victory.

It concluded an ill-tempered race up and down the field, as earlier in the race Austin Dillon slammed into the Turn 1 wall after contact from Reddick, which knocked Dillon out of the race.

Before leaving the scene in an ambulance, an angry Dillon threw his helmet at Reddick’s car as he went by under caution.

When Hamlin brought his #11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota back to celebrate, fans booed him loudly and threw bottles on the track.

The win is the second of the 2023 season for Hamlin and 50th of his Cup career.

"Both guys wrecked themselves," Hamlin said about incidents he had with Bowman and Larson.

"He [Larson] missed the corner first and evidently he didn't have his right-side tyres clean. You know, you have an option in those positions - it's either hold it wide-open and hit the fence or lift and race it out.

"That was a choice they made. I didn't hit either one of them."

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota Camry (Photo by: David Rosenblum / NKP / Motorsport Images)

Reddick recovered from his clash with Dillion to take second place ahead of Martin Truex Jr in third with Kevin Harvick and Ty Gibbs rounding out the top five.

Christopher Bell produced a decent performance after a run of poor results to take sixth place, ahead of Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Harrison Burton took an impressive eighth ahead of Erik Jones, as 2020 NASCAR Cup champion Chase Elliott completed the top 10.

Polesitter Byron could only recover to 14th place after being held up in incidents, just one place behind fellow title contender Ross Chastain.

NASCAR Cup Series - Pocono race results

 
 
     
Driver Info
 
 
 
   
Cla Driver # Manufacturer Laps Time Interval Mph Pits Points Retirement Bonus
1 United States D. Hamlin Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing 11 Toyota 160 3:21'03.609     7 55    
2 United States T. Reddick Tyler Reddick 23XI Racing 45 Toyota 160 +1.238 1.238   7 47    
3 United States M. Truex Jr. Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing 19 Toyota 160 +1.239 0.001   7 44    
4 United States K. Harvick Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing 4 Ford 160 +2.453 1.214   7 33    
5
T. Gibbs Ty Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing
54 Toyota 160 +2.621 0.168   8 36    
6 United States C. Bell Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing 20 Toyota 160 +3.241 0.620   8 31    
7 United States R. Stenhouse Jr. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing 47 Chevrolet 160 +3.556 0.315   8 30    
8 United States H. Burton Harrison Burton Wood Brothers Racing 21 Ford 160 +4.707 1.151   9 29    
9 United States E. Jones Erik Jones Legacy Motor Club 43 Chevrolet 160 +5.460 0.753   10 29    
10 United States C. Elliott Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports 9 Chevrolet 160 +5.994 0.534   8 27    
11 United States B. Wallace Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing 23 Toyota 160 +6.300 0.306   8 32    
12 United States A. Almirola Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing 10 Ford 160 +6.301 0.001   8 25    
13 United States R. Chastain Ross Chastain TrackHouse Racing 1 Chevrolet 160 +6.843 0.542   8 24    
14 United States W. Byron William Byron Hendrick Motorsports 24 Chevrolet 160 +7.571 0.728   7 31    
15 United States T. Gilliland Todd Gilliland Front Row Motorsports 38 Ford 160 +8.224 0.653   12 22    
16 United States B. Keselowski Brad Keselowski RFK Racing 6 Ford 160 +8.774 0.550   8 21    
17 United States A. Allmendinger A.J. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing 16 Chevrolet 160 +9.325 0.551   8 26    
18 United States C. Buescher Chris Buescher RFK Racing 17 Ford 160 +10.045 0.720   7 21    
19 United States M. McDowell Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports 34 Ford 160 +10.617 0.572   7 23    
20 United States K. Larson Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports 5 Chevrolet 160 +11.098 0.481   8 27    
21 United States K. Busch Kyle Busch Richard Childress Racing 8 Chevrolet 160 +11.147 0.049   10 16    
22 United States N. Gragson Noah Gragson Legacy Motor Club 42 Chevrolet 160 +11.148 0.001   8 15    
23 United States A. Cindric Austin Cindric Team Penske 2 Ford 160 +11.416 0.268   8 14    
24 United States A. Bowman Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports 48 Chevrolet 160 +11.417 0.001   8 19    
25 United States C. Custer Cole Custer Rick Ware Racing 51 Ford 160 +12.204 0.787   10      
26 United States J. Yeley J.J. Yeley Rick Ware Racing 15 Ford 160 +12.262 0.058   13      
27 United States C. Lajoie Corey Lajoie Spire Motorsports 7 Chevrolet 160 +15.161 2.899   12 10    
28 United States T. Dillon Ty Dillon Spire Motorsports 77 Chevrolet 160 +15.329 0.168   9 18    
29 United States C. Briscoe Chase Briscoe Stewart-Haas Racing 14 Ford 160 +16.246 0.917   14 8    
30 United States R. Blaney Ryan Blaney Team Penske 12 Ford 160 +17.591 1.345   8 10    
31 United States R. Preece Ryan Preece Stewart-Haas Racing 41 Ford 159 +1 Lap 1 Lap   9 6    
32 United States B. McLeod B.J. McLeod Live Fast Motorsports 78 Chevrolet 159 +1 Lap 2.692   11 5    
33 United States J. Haley Justin Haley Kaulig Racing 31 Chevrolet 153 +7 Laps 6 Laps   7 7 Accident  
34 United States A. Dillon Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing 3 Chevrolet 105 +55 Laps 48 Laps   6 3 Accident  
35 United States J. Logano Joey Logano Team Penske 22 Ford 48 +112 Laps 57 Laps   5 12 DVP  
36 Mexico D. Suarez Daniel Suarez TrackHouse Racing 99 Chevrolet 37 +123 Laps 11 Laps   5 1 Accident  

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.