LONG POND, Pa. -- Denny Hamlin feigned confusion over the name of the season-long nemesis he ran into the wall with just slightly less viciousness than how Ross Chastain likes to smash his victory watermelons.
“Who?” Hamlin said.
You know, the driver that stoked Hamlin's ire with multiple incidents over the last two seasons that prompted the Joe Gibbs Racing driver to spew he had “reached my peak" in irritation with Chastain.
From provocation often comes payback, and Hamlin found his as Chastain shot into the wall during a late battle for the lead — and Hamlin streaked ahead Sunday in the No. 11 Toyota to become the winningest driver in Pocono Raceway history.
Hamlin won for the third time this season and passed Hall of Fame driver Jeff Gordon for most wins at Pocono with seven. Hamlin swept two races at Pocono in his rookie season in 2006, and added wins in 2009, 2010, 2019 and 2020.
“It's hard for me to kind of believe because there's so much that goes into winning at this track,” Hamlin said. “Having the fastest car is like 20 % of the equation that it takes to win.”
Hamlin had plenty to handle from the start, when the pole sitter tagged the wall on the opening lap. He recovered — at 400 miles on the 2 1/2-mile tri-oval there's plenty of racing ahead — then had to watch Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch lead the majority of the race. Oh, then there was this thorny issue of settling a lingering score with Chastain.
Chastain wrecked Hamlin two times in a month earlier this season — Hamlin counted two more times from last season — and was fed-up with the aggressive driving of the watermelon farmer. Hamlin refused to give his rival an inch off a restart at Pocono and forced Chastain into the wall with 16 laps left in the race. Chastain slammed the wall and triggered a wreck that collected several drivers, including winless Kevin Harvick, who is fighting for a playoff spot.
“What did you want me to do? What did you expect me to do,” Hamlin asked in the immediate aftermath.
Chastain, who has two wins this season driving for Trackhouse Racing, sheepishly understood comeuppance was due.
“I think that’s something that’s been owed to me for a few months now,” Chastain said.
Hamlin got the last word — well the latest word — but does it squash their beef? Perhaps not, as the wife of Chastain’s race team owner Justin Marks tweeted, “Game. On.”
Hamlin, who said all he ever want to be was a local short-track racer in Virginia, took over from there and tied former teammate Tony Stewart for 12th on NASCAR's career wins list with 49.
“We've just been good friends and he's certainly someone that I look up to from a talent standpoint,” Hamlin said. “He was the guy that for 36 races was a threat to win, and that's what I hope to be some day.”
Hamlin is pretty close: He's a three-time Daytona 500 champion and part owner of 23XI Racing with Michael Jordan. About the only blemish on his resume is the championship he's failed to win.
Hamlin’s young daughter burst into tears of joy and he sent her to retrieve the checkered flag. Taylor Hamlin clutched the flag as she slid through the passenger’s side window and took a victory lap around Pocono with dad at the wheel.
Busch led a race-high 63 laps and finished second, followed by Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick and Daniel Suarez.
“Even if we would have had a tenth or a tenth-and--a-half better than them at the end of the race and ran up to him and caught to him, I don’t know that I would have been able to maneuver around him,” Busch said.
TY GAME
Ty Gibbs finished 18th for 23XI Racing in his first career Cup start subbing for the injured Kurt Busch.
Busch suffered a head injury during a hard hit Saturday in qualifying and was not cleared to race by NASCAR's medical staff. That opened the door for the 19-year-old Gibbs. In a pinch, the grandson of Joe Gibbs wore Busch's firesuit and Hamlin's shoes.
“I never thought I’d race with these guys,” Gibbs said. “It was just cool being next to them on the track. To 10-year-old Ty, that means a lot.”
Grandpa Joe was pretty proud.
“He was discouraged that he couldn’t get more out of it,” Gibbs said. “I think he realizes how tough it is.”
NO DEAL
Gibbs remained concerned JGR has yet to reach a new contact with Kyle Busch.
“We had a couple of companies, we thought (were in) that wound up to be disappointments for us,” Gibbs said. “But it is hard and it is discouraging.”
UP NEXT
IndyCar and NASCAR share next weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. IndyCar races Saturday on the road course; NASCAR races Sunday.
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