Written by Sean McKean
Despite increasing pressure from Hamlin at the end, it was Ryan Blaney who crossed the line first to take his second win of the season. This was the second victory of Blaney’s career at Pocono Raceway – his first since his very first win in 2017.
As it unfolded
With a nice lap in yesterday’s qualifying, Ty Gibbs used it to his advantage to hold the lead at the drop of the green flag.
He held it until the first caution came out on Lap 14, when Noah Gragson lost the rear in Turn 1 and slammed the wall. Although he tried driving away, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver had to retire from the race.
Going into Turn 1 on the Lap 18 restart, Gibbs made a mistake and washed up the track, subsequently handing the lead to teammate Martin Truex. Gibbs dropped out of the top five as a result.
The first stage ended without more incident, with Truex coming out first ahead of Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick.
The top five all went in for their pit stops under the stage caution, so now Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski led the field to the green flag on Lap 36. Logano washed up the racetrack in Turn 1 – an emerging theme for today – giving the lead to the RFK driver.
Keselowski led until the first caution of the stage came out on Lap 53. Coming off Turn 3, Ross Chastain lost control and hit the outside wall. He continued rolling down the frontstretch, where he slammed the Turn 1 wall as well. Chastain went out of the race with terminal damage as the caution came out.
Under this caution, nearly every driver went into the pits with the exception of two: Gibbs and Josh Berry.
Berry took the lead on the ensuing Lap 57 restart and kept the lead until Lap 67 when Hamlin took the lead.
Berry and Gibbs stayed out all the way until Lap 75 – both topping off with fuel.
Before the end of the stage, a few drivers took the option to pit. This included Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, and Martin Truex.
Stage two ended with Hamlin in first, Chase Elliott in second, and Brad Keselowski in third.
Since they pitted before the stage caution, Buescher and Berry led the field to the green flag on Lap 101 – the former holding the lead.
Before green flag strategies could unfold, the caution came out on Lap 115. Todd Gilliland suffered a brake rotor explosion, which cut his right-front tyre and put him into the Turn 1 wall.
Most drivers took the option to pit under the yellow flag. Many decided to take two tyres, of this group including Kyle Larson and Elliott. They were the first drivers to come out of the pits, however both were caught for speeding – getting sent to the back of the field for the restart.
Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney led the field on the ensuing restart with 40 laps remaining, and it did not remain green for long.
Going into Turn 1, Kyle Busch was hooked by Corey Lajoie and spun to the inside. He came back up onto the racing surface – collecting many drivers in the crash. The drivers who retired from the race due to this were Busch, Ricky Stenhouse, Harrison Burton, and Ryan Preece. Daniel Hemric and AJ Allmendinger were also involved but suffered minor damage.
The same two drivers – Hamlin and Blaney – led the field to the green with 34 laps to go. Hamlin dropped behind Alex Bowman while Blaney shot out to the lead.
However, another caution came out only a corner later. Zane Smith and John Hunter Nemechek came together on the backstretch, sending both into the inside wall and out of the race.
Blaney yet again led everyone to the green flag with only 29 laps remaining, the Penske driver keeping the lead ahead of Bowman. However, Ty Gibbs suffered an engine failure on the restart and spilled fluid on the track, resulting in the caution coming out once more.
Blaney and Bowman led the way with only 23 laps to go, the former keeping the lead once more.
With seven laps remaining, Hamlin got by Bowman for second, now chasing the lead from Blaney.
However little could be done to catch Ryan Blaney, who cruised across the line to take his second victory of the season. Denny Hamlin was close but had to settle for second. Alex Bowman continued his run of results in third. William Byron slotted in just behind his teammate in fourth. Rounding out the top five was Blaney’s teammate Joey Logano.
Provisional Results:
#12 Ryan Blaney (Team Penske)
#11 Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing)
#48 Alex Bowman (Hendrick Motorsports)
#24 William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports)
#22 Joey Logano (Team Penske)
#45 Tyler Reddick (23XI Racing)
#6 Brad Keselowski (Roush Fenway-Keselowski)
#19 Martin Truex (Joe Gibbs Racing)
#9 Chase Elliott (Hendrick Motorsports)
#23 Bubba Wallace (23XI Racing)
#17 Chris Buescher (Roush Fenway-Keselowski)
#20 Christopher Bell (Joe Gibbs Racing)
#5 Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports)
#43 Erik Jones (Legacy Motor Club)
#14 Chase Briscoe (Stewart-Haas Racing)
#99 Daniel Suarez (Trackhouse Racing)
#77 Carson Hocevar (Spire Motorsports)
#2 Austin Cindric (Team Penske)
#7 Corey Lajoie (Spire Motorsports)
#4 Josh Berry (Stewart-Haas Racing)
#16 AJ Allmendinger (Kaulig Racing)
#51 Justin Haley (Rick Ware Racing)
#3 Austin Dillon (Richard Childress Racing)
#34 Michael McDowell (Front Row Motorsports) +2 laps
#31 Daniel Hemric (Kaulig Racing) +7 laps
#15 Cody Ware (Rick Ware Racing) +26 laps
#54 Ty Gibbs (Joe Gibbs Racing) [DNF]
#42 John Hunter Nemechek (Legacy Motor Club) [DNF]
#71 Zane Smith (Spire Motorsports) [DNF]
#41 Ryan Preece (Stewart-Haas Racing) [DNF]
#21 Harrison Burton (Wood Brothers Racing) [DNF]
#8 Kyle Busch (Richard Childress Racing) [DNF]
#47 Ricky Stenhouse (JTG Daugherty Racing) [DNF]
#38 Todd Gilliland (Front Row Motorsports) [DNF]
#44 JJ Yeley (NY Racing Team) [DNF]
#1 Ross Chastain (Trackhouse Racing) [DNF]
#10 Noah Gragson (Stewart-Haas Racing) [DNF]
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