Hamlin too fast for field
LONG POND, Pa. -- Denny Hamlin is so enamored with the No. 11 Toyota he won with Sunday at Pocono, he wants to keep it when it's finally taken out of the rotation.
After watching Hamlin celebrate a little too giddily following another victory at the quirky 2½-mile oval, team owner Joe Gibbs isn't certain Hamlin can foot the repair bill.
Hamlin whooped it up after collecting his fourth win at the track, doing a lengthy burnout that ended up with Hamlin smacking the wall.
Oops.
"Obviously I wouldn't want to damage the car that I'm a future owner of," Hamlin said with a sheepish grin while sitting next to Gibbs.
"I'm not so sure you can afford it," Gibbs interjected.
Then again, if Hamlin can keep finding his way to Victory Lane, Gibbs probably won't mind picking up the tab.
Hamlin's fourth win of the season vaulted him to third in the standings. Teammate Kyle Busch finished second in his 200th Cup start. Tony Stewart was third, followed by points leader Kevin Harvick and four-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson.
The ease of Hamlin's victory played in stark contrast to the chaos that surrounded the finish at one of NASCAR's normally sleepy stops.
While Hamlin was smoking the tires, teammate Joey Logano was on pit road confronting Harvick after Harvick knocked Logano out of contention on lap 198.
The outburst from the normally reserved 20-year-old turned heads in the garage and caught NASCAR's attention. Logano went to speak to series officials after the race to talk things over.
He didn't go without taking a dig at Harvick first.
"It's probably not (Harvick's) fault," said Logano, who finished 13th. "His wife wears the firesuit in the family, tells him what to do, so it's probably not his fault."
Harvick's crew chief, Gil Martin, claimed Logano sped toward Harvick's pit box and nearly slammed into several crew members before coming to a stop.
"If his foot had slipped off the brake right there, he would have crushed about three people's legs," Martin said. "If that were to happen, it would have been an all-out brawl on pit row."
It would have mimicked what was happening on the track in the final 40 laps, when a series of cautions shuffled the field and led to the kind of aggressive driving typically seen at Daytona or Talladega.
Stewart was clearly frustrated despite his best finish since early spring. He called the racing off the restarts "idiotic" and left little doubt that he'll seek payback starting next week in Michigan.
"I've seen some of the worst driving I've ever seen in my life in a professional series right here today," he said. "So for anybody that's looking for drama for the next couple races, start looking because I can promise I'm going to start making the highlight reel."
The start was delayed 90 minutes by rain, then another 10 minutes or so while officials patched a pothole at the end of pit road inadvertently opened up by a jet dryer. Once the rain cleared, Hamlin dominated.
He led 88 laps and appeared to have the race well in hand with just more than a lap to go in regulation. But his two-second lead was wiped out when Harvick nudged Logano into the wall.
Hamlin couldn't quite reach the start/finish line for the white flag before the caution came out, sending the race into a two-lap overtime.
Hamlin debated on which lane to pick for the restart and opted to go inside in front of Kyle Busch. The two haven't been friendly lately, with Busch saying he wanted to "kill" Hamlin after a run-in at the All-Star race two weeks ago.
There was no drama this time. Hamlin easily drew free of Busch and Stewart, cutting off Stewart as they exited the first turn and cruising from there.
As Hamlin roared to the finish, a massive wreck behind him swallowed nine cars. Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Kasey Kahne were involved, with Kahne's No. 9 Ford briefly spinning atop the retaining wall after colliding with Richard Petty Motorsports teammate AJ Allmendinger.
None of the drivers was hurt, but tempers across the garage were frayed.
"I don't know what AJ was doing there," said Kahne, who finished 27th. "I don't ever really talk to him much, but you can bet I will be talking to him this week."
Allmendinger took responsibility for the wreck, though he said he was simply defending his turf.
Kurt Busch, looking to back up wins in the All-Star race and last week in Charlotte, finished sixth despite a series of early setbacks that had him a lap down for a time.
Kyle Busch was hoping to make his record-breaking start memorable. At 25 years, one month and four days old, he became the youngest driver to reach the 200-start plateau. Brian Vickers was 25 years, 11 months, 3 days when he reached his 200th start.
Kyle Busch led four times for 32 laps but wasn't complaining after coming up short. He has never been a fan of Pocono. That didn't change even after his best finish here.
"Denny has this place figured out," Busch said. "I did the best I could. I went from about an 'F' at knowing how to get around here today to about an 'A,' and an 'A' didn't get it done."
