(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)
By Aaron Bearden

Main Takeaway

There was plenty of anger to go around at Pocono Raceway. 

Kyle Larson was upset with Denny Hamlin. His Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman was, too. Austin Dillon threw his helmet at Tyler Reddick’s car in anger. Ryan Preece confronted Corey LaJoie after the race. Joey Logano yellow at safety vehicle personnel and fans shouted at both Hamlin and NASCAR after a controversial finish. 

Ahead of a race at the facility known as the ‘Action Track,’  Richmond Raceway, it was Pocono Raceway that brought drama and controversy to the sport’s top level. With tight battles and emphasis on striking when opportunities arose due to the aerodynamic struggles with passing, Sunday’s race developed into a chaotic affair that helped stoke rivalries and frustration throughout the garage area. 

Key among these storylines was Hamlin’s war with Hendrick Motorsports. The three-time Daytona 500 winner first played a role in the crashing of Bowman, packing air on the rear of his car in a late battle for position. 

The pair never made contact, but Bowman lost control of his No. 48 Chevrolet and backed into the outside wall. He would wind up 24th at race’s end, while Hamlin continued on undeterred. 

One restart later came the major highlight of the race. Hamlin again found himself at odds with a Hendrick driver. This time it was Larson, who was sent into the outside wall in a restart battle reminiscent of Ross Chastain’s Pocono crash with Hamlin in 2022. 

There were a few key differences between the accidents. Hamlin was feuding with Chastain at this time last year, so giving the eventual runner-up no wiggle room felt justifiable. Larson is a close friend and someone that had already lost a race this year to contact from Hamlin at Kansas Speedway.

There also appeared to be contact this time around – something Hamlin was key to point out didn’t happen with Chastain and alleged hadn’t occurred with Larson, either. 

“I was nervous of the move that happened because he made it work on Ross last year and he dirtied him up,” Larson said. “He knows and Ross deserved it last year for all the times that he got into Denny.

“I felt like I didn’t. I deserved to be raced with respect at least through Turn 1. But he knew that was gonna be his only opportunity to beat me with how bad dirty air was. So I got used up.”

Larson didn’t try to mask his frustration afterward. He pulled alongside Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota and bumped doors with the Virginian on the front stretch after a Justin Haley crash brought out another caution flag moments later. 

“(Hamlin)’s always right,” he quipped on pit road. “All the buddies know Denny’s always right. I’m sure he was in the right there, as well. It is what it is. 

“I’m not going to let it tarnish our friendship on track, but I am pissed. I feel like I should be pissed.” 

The incident left Larson damaged. He faded to 20th, ending a promising day with a disappointing result. Hamlin went on to win, taking his 50th Cup victory in the process. He emerged from his No. 11 Toyota to a chorus of boos. 

Hamlin defended his moves afterward, saying both drivers had wrecked themselves. He also noted that Larson had driven him off-course on road courses and had pulled similar aero moves on drivers in the past, hinting at Larson’s run-in with Bubba Wallace at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last fall.

“I put both of those guys, the No. 48 and the No. 5, in an aero situation,” Hamlin said. “Didn’t touch either one. How can you wreck someone you don’t touch?

“They made a decision to either let off the gas and race side-by-side or hit the gas and hit the wall. I put them to those decisions. I didn’t overshoot the corner. I was behind. I tried to get position on (Larson), knew it was going to be tight off of (Turn) 2, but always made sure I left a lane, or more than a lane.”

As for whether the moves were justified or not, Hamlin felt the end easily justified the means.

“We’re racing for the win, are you shitting me,” he said.. “I mean, if I’m going to give anyone the respect, it’s Kyle Larson just because I respect him as a race car driver, and I think he’s probably the best. Certainly, he’s got my respect.

“But damn. I mean, we’re all racing for a win. I guarantee you, (with the) roles reversed, it goes the same way.”

Good, Bad and Ugly

Ugly: NASCAR’s Crowd Let’s Them Have It

The fiery reaction to Hamlin’s win in the grandstands didn’t stem entirely from the driver himself. Though it certainly didn’t help, the furor was compounded by disappointment in the way the ending had transpired. 

Ryan Preece had spun on the penultimate lap after contact from Corey LaJoie. This happened before the white flag, but Preece didn’t hit anything and appeared capable of continuing on, so NASCAR elected not to throw the caution. 

But Preece’s No. 41 Ford wasn’t able to continue. So when the field came back up to him on the white flag lap, NASCAR was forced to end the race under yellow, denying Reddick an opportunity to race his boss for a Pocono win. 

Preece confronted LaJoie after the race, running up to his No. 7 Chevrolet and expressing his frustration into the cockpit. 

The fans aired their grievances with a cacophony of boos, drowning out Hamlin’s victory celebration with their vitriol. 

NASCAR didn’t do anything expressly wrong here. Race control followed proper procedure and made a judgement call that Preece seemed capable of returning to speed. It seemed like an honest mistake. 

But the caution ending will taint the race in the eyes of fans who always want to see a race ended under green if possible – particularly when it would have been easy to put out the yellow when Preece initially spun.

 

Good: What A Crowd

One reason the upset crowd sounded so loud was because there were a lot of people in it. 

Sunday’s race was a sellout for both the grandstands and camping area, bringing the largest crowd the Tricky Triangle has seen since 2010. The infield was full of campers and fans flocked to the Pennsylvania track in droves, eager to check out the race and possibly meet their favorite drivers. 

It’s important not to read too much into the attendance, because it was impacted by the loss of a second race date at Pocono after the 2021 season. But the impressive crowd can also be attributed to the efforts of track president Ben May and the rest of the team that runs the facility. 

Pocono has been one of the most open facilities to change in recent years. The track shortened its former 500-mile races to a more endurable 400 miles in the 2010s and tested a doubleheader race weekend heading into the 2020s before losing one of its dates. 

Along the way the rare independent NASCAR facility has continued to invest in upgrades including a revamped fan area with viewing decks and improved access for spectators after tearing down the old victory tower. 

Those efforts appeared to bear fruit on Sunday. Hopefully it’s a sign of things to come for NASCAR at one of the sport’s historic tracks.

 

Good: Dillon’s Helmet-Tossing Form 

Austin Dillon’s endured a difficult 2023 season. The 2018 Daytona 500 champion has watched both his new teammate (Kyle Busch) and old (Tyler Reddick) win races, lock in playoff spots and generally run well. Meanwhile, he sits 29th in the standings – likely en route to the worst points result of his Cup Series career. 

So it’s understandable that Dillon might be a bit hot under the collar – particularly after he’s wrecked. 

That’s exactly what happened Sunday. The elder Dillon brother was involved in a wreck with his former Richard Childress Racing teammate, Reddick, slamming the wall hard and falling out of the race after the pair collided while running three-wide under Brad Keselowski. 

Dillon was so angry after the accident that he waited for Reddick to come back around and chucked his helmet at Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota. 

The one-hop throw narrowly missed Reddick, who continued on to finish second. 

“I was just trying to hit him,” Dillon said. “I’m pissed I didn’t lead it. They were going probably 65 (mph). If I had started at the front of the car, I might have got him in the door.”

 

Bad: Mo’ Money, Tow Problems

If you checked social media over the course of Sunday’s race, you probably came across this clip of Joey Logano’s in-car video after his crash on a Lap 36 restart.

Logano had spun with contact from behind and backed into the outside wall in the accident. It left him with four flat tires, essentially beaching the No. 22 car on-track. The Next Gen car has required a tow back to pit road when all four tires are flattened in an accident. 

So Logano sat, frustrated, as the safety team sorted out that his Ford needed towed from Turn 1 to pit road – a trip that added underbody damage and lost him multiple laps in the process. The two-time Cup champion believed afterward that the bulk of his damage came from the tow – something he feels could be fixed with a simple solution. 

“It just doesn’t make any sense,” Logano said. “We’ve been fighting these cars for two years now with four flat tires when a car spins out and you get this long, horrible ride back. It’s rough. Your head is bouncing around in there.

“It’s stupid. It’s just really dumb that we can’t just put four tires on a truck.”

Whether an on-track tire change could have helped Logano continue on, we’ll never know. It’s likely the damage he sustained in the crash could have kept him from returning to the race, leaving the Stage 1 winner with his 35th-place result. But it would have saved him a long, bumpy ride to pit road. 

As for the miscommunication: 

“Here’s the deal — I talked to someone today and they (the track crew) see a race car once a year,” Logano said. “That’s not fair to the people working out there on the race track, that they don’t have a lot of experience. 

“They may be doing it for years, so don’t put it in the context that these guys don’t know what they’re doing, but the experience level of doing something every single week versus seeing a race car once a year is tough.

“That’s really hard and we’re all in a position out there while I’m sitting there watching cars go by me with a chance of getting a good finish being left as I’m trying to communicate to somebody and they can’t hear me, or listen, or they’re trying to figure out what to do. They don’t know that you can’t push a car with four flat tires on it. The car doesn’t steer. I’m trying to tell them to hook it up and they kept trying to push me. We wasted a lap-and-a-half before they tried to hook it. There’s a better way to do it.”

 

Bad: Daniel Suarez’s Playoff Hopes Post-Pocono

The accident that left Logano frustrated also resulted in the end of Daniel Suarez’s race. The Trackhouse Racing ace was running on the inside of a three-wide battle when contact from Wallace in the stack-up behind Logano sent him nose-first into the outside wall.

Suarez’s No. 99 team tried to get him back on track, but his Chevrolet was leaking oil. So he pulled behind the wall and called it a day in 36th.

It was a frustrating end for Suarez, who had started 17th and risen to 12th in the first stage. The day seemed to be trending in the right direction, but he felt his team shouldn’t have been mired that deep in the pack to begin with. 

“(I’m) definitely frustrated because I feel like we’re better than this,” Suarez said. “I’m frustrated also because I feel like guys are wrecking each other, and I’m the one that ended up out of the race without being in their mess.” 

The end result of Suarez’s last-place finish is a drop 23 points below the playoff cutline. The Mexican star is no longer the closest driver out of the preliminary grid. That distinction now goes to AJ Allmendinger, who sits 17 points below the cutline in 17th. 

The desperation to win isn’t there yet. But one more subpar week could force the No. 99 team to shift its focus away from points.

 

Good: Last-Lap Battles

While Sunday’s race saw a deflating ending under yellow, the two races that preceded it were full of excitement in the final laps. 

Kyle Busch notched the 100th Craftsman Truck Series victory for his team, Kyle Busch Motorsports, on Saturday. But what may sound like a predictable, boring result on paper required a sketchy last-lap send in the tunnel turn to come to fruition. 

Corey Heim dominated a good portion of the race and kept Busch at bay down the closing stretch. But a last-ditch effort for Busch made the difference in his final Truck start of the year. 

Saturday’s Xfinity Series race ultimately ended under yellow. But it didn’t do so until Josh Berry crashed after letting a near-perfect day slip away to Austin Hill on the final restart. 

Throw in an early morning ARCA Menards Series race and Cup practice and qualifying, and fans that scored a Saturday ticket were given one of the highest-value days of the NASCAR season. 

 

Notes

  • Sunday marked back-to-back weeks that Ryan Preece has aired grievances with another driver after the race. He previously had a post-race discussion with Michael McDowell after the pair made contact at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. 
  • Sunday’s win was Toyota’s 600th in NASCAR national series competition. Toyota has 177 Cup wins, 196 Xfinity Series victories and 227 triumphs in the Craftsman Truck Series. 
  • Tyler Reddick needed that one. Sunday was Reddick’s sixth top-five of the year, but it was his first since the Coca-Cola 600 in May. Maybe this can get the No. 45 team back on-track with the playoffs drawing near. 
  • Three spots further back, Ty Gibbs notched the first top-five of his Cup career to keep his playoff hopes on points alive. The Joe Gibbs Racing rookie sits 28 points out of the provisional field with five races left – a challenging, but doable, hill to climb. 
  • Michael McDowell had a quiet day in Pocono and finished 19th. But by avoiding calamity, the Front Row Motorsports veteran added to his playoff cushion. He may need it, too – two road courses remain in the final five regular season races and his closest challenger is Allmendinger. 
  • Ricky Stenhouse Jr. scored his seventh top-10 of the year in Pocono. That trails only 2017 (9) in any of the Mississippian’s 11 full-time Cup seasons. His 15.4 average finish is also on track to be Stenhouse’s best ever. This would be a good year even without the career-defining Daytona 500 win. 

 

Race Results

  1. Denny Hamlin
  2. Tyler Reddick
  3. Martin Truex Jr.
  4. Kevin Harvick
  5. Ty Gibbs
  6. Christopher Bell
  7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  8. Harrison Burton
  9. Erik Jones
  10. Chase Elliott
  11. Bubba Wallace
  12. Aric Almirola
  13. Ross Chastain
  14. William Byron
  15. Todd Gilliland
  16. Brad Keselowski
  17. AJ Allmendinger
  18. Chris Buescher
  19. Michael McDowell
  20. Kyle Larson
  21. Kyle Busch
  22. Noah Gragson
  23. Austin Cindric
  24. Alex Bowman
  25. Cole Custer
  26. JJ Yeley
  27. Corey LaJoie
  28. Ty Dillon
  29. Chase Briscoe
  30. Ryan Blaney
  31. Ryan Preece
  32. BJ McLeod
  33. Justin Haley
  34. Austin Dillon
  35. Joey Logano
  36. Daniel Suarez

Stage 1

  1. Joey Logano
  2. Martin Truex Jr.
  3. Denny Hamlin
  4. Tyler Reddick
  5. AJ Allmendinger
  6. Michael McDowell
  7. Bubba Wallace
  8. Justin Haley
  9. Chris Buescher
  10. Erik Jones

Stage 2

  1. Kyle Larson
  2. Ty Dillon
  3. William Byron
  4. Denny Hamlin
  5. Alex Bowman
  6. Tyler Reddick
  7. Ty Gibbs
  8. Ryan Blaney
  9. Bubba Wallace
  10. Martin Truex Jr. 

 

Playoff Picture

Daniel Suarez took a big hit in the standings this week, while Bubba Wallace gave himself a slight cushion on Michael McDowell and the bubble. 

In With A Win

  • William Byron (4)
  • Martin Truex Jr. (3) 
  • Kyle Busch (3) 
  • Kyle Larson (2)
  • Denny Hamlin (2)
  • Christopher Bell
  • Ross Chastain
  • Ryan Blaney
  • Joey Logano
  • Tyler Reddick
  • Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 

Above the Cut

  • Kevin Harvick (+163)
  • Brad Keselowski (+122)
  • Chris Buescher (+111)
  • Bubba Wallace (+27)
  • Michael McDowell (+17)

Within Reach

  • AJ Allmendinger (-17)
  • Daniel Suarez (-23)
  • Ty Gibbs (-28)
  • Alex Bowman (-46) 
  • Chase Elliott (-56)

Need to Win

  • Austin Cindric
  • Justin Haley
  • Todd Gilliland
  • Aric Almirola
  • Corey LaJoie
  • Ryan Preece
  • Erik Jones
  • Harrison Burton
  • Austin Dillon
  • Chase Briscoe
  • Ty Dillon
  • Noah Gragson 

Next up: Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway (July 30)

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Denny Hamlin Kyle Larson NASCAR Cup Pocono