Hamlin’s strong season includes Pocono victory

Associated Press

LONG POND, Pa.

Denny Hamlin had enough speed in his Toyota, enough confidence in his crew chief, and just enough fuel to reach the finish line.

Hamlin got the win Sunday at Pocono Raceway – his fifth at the tri-oval track nestled in the mountains – but so much more could be on the horizon.

At 38, Hamlin is having one of the best seasons of his career for Joe Gibbs Racing. He has a Daytona 500 victory, and two other wins and just maybe, his best shot at a NASCAR Cup Series championship since he fell short in 2014.

“I feel as long as we keep putting the effort in what we’re doing, I have as good a shot as any,” Hamlin said.

The Cup championship has eluded Hamlin but not much else has over a fantastic career that took off as a rookie in 2006 when he swept two Pocono races. He won two straight races at Pocono over the 2009 and 2010 seasons, but often struggled in recent years to seriously compete for a win on the tri-oval track.

He needed a bit of everything to go right over the final laps Sunday to reverse his fortune and win for the first time since March in Texas. Hamlin had to clear JGR teammates Erik Jones and Martin Truex Jr., then had to conserve fuel in the No. 11 for when he needed it on two late restarts, including the final one in overtime.

Hamlin is coming off his first full winless season of his career and split with crew chief Michael Wheeler, with JGR giving the reigns to Chris Gabehart. Hamlin said he has full faith in the first-year Cup crew chief and followed his directives on fuel. Gabehart made all the right calls atop the pit box.

Hamlin seemingly had the race won in regulation when he took the lead off a restart with four laps to go after Kurt Busch slammed into the wall to bring out another caution. Hamlin, Jones and Truex made it a 1-2-3 running order for JGR as the race headed into OT. That’s the way it shook out after three extra laps. William Bryon was fourth, and Kyle Larson finished fifth.