Denny Hamlin pulled away on the final restart and won his record seventh race at Pocono and the 50th of his career. Now the future Hall of Famer has a chance to build a ton of momentum as the Cup series heads to his home track at Richmond, Virginia.
Hamlin became just the 15th driver in NASCAR’s 75 years to win 50 races. His victory was also the 600th in NASCAR for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Hamlin and Kyle Larson battled for the lead nearing the end before Larson crashed, finishing 20th. Larson claimed Hamlin nudged him; Hamlin said he did not. The victory came a year after Hamlin and then-teammate Kyle Busch were both disqualified after finishing 1-2 at the track.
Hamlin’s teammate, Martin Truex Jr., expanded his points lead to 30 over William Byron with Hamlin 55 back.
Kevin Harvick won after starting 13th at the summer race last year.
Practice and qualifying for the cup series is 11:30 am Saturday morning and race time is 2 pm on Sunday.
The XFinity Series is road racing this week at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
Austin Hill grabbed the lead when dominant Josh Berry slammed the wall on a restart in overtime at Pocono. It was Hill’s fourth victory of the season. Hill ended a 13-race winless drought and tied points leader John Hunter Nemechek for the victories lead.
The two overtime laps were the only ones Hill led in the race.
Berry won both stages before crashing. He finished 24th. Sam Mayer was second, followed by Cup Series regular Chase Elliott, Riley Herbst and Daniel Hemric.
With six races left to determine the 12-car field for the playoffs, five spots remain open. Nemechek, who had won two straight, finished 32nd.
Ty Gibbs was last year's winner at Road America in the XFinity Series.
Practice and qualifying is 4 pm this afternoon with race time 2 pm on Saturday. The Series rejoins the Cup series at Michigan next weekend.
The Craftsman Truck Series is in Richmond this weekend. Kyle Busch passed points leader Corey Heim on the final lap at Pocono and gave his Kyle Busch Motorsports its 100th victory in the truck series.
Busch has won twice in five starts in the series this year. His two wins tie him with five series regulars.
Heim, with one fewer start than the rest of the contenders, stretched his points lead from 26 over defending champion Zane Smith to 42 points over Smith with Grant Enfinger, Ty Majeski and Ben Rhodes 59 back.
The Richmond race is the last one to gain a spot in the 10-driver playoffs.
Chandler Smith won after starting second.
Practice and qualifying for the trucks is 4 pm this afternoon. Race time is 6:30 pm Saturday night.
