At Pocono Raceway, Denny Hamlin started fourth and finished second, while Great American Getaway 400 winner Ryan Blaney started eighth. Hamlin said he was running out of time to make a final attempt, emphasizing that track position was crucial.
Despite a huge effort to clinch a record eight NASCAR Cup wins at Pocono, Hamlin was unable to catch race leader Blaney, passing Alex Bowman with just seven of the 160 laps remaining. A delay at his penultimate pit stop took its toll, costing him ninth place and hurting his chances for the rest of the race. Denny Hamlin closed the gap on the final laps, but wasn’t close enough to challenge for the lead, eventually crossing the finish line 1.312 seconds ahead of Ryan Blaney. Reflecting on the result in a post-race interview, Hamlin said: “You don’t lose races, you just lose time, you know? That’s just part of it. Position on the track is so important. We won when we had 12 guys in front of us on the stage. It would have been tough to pass them for sure.” We just didn’t have enough green laps at the end.”
Hamlin led for most of the race, leading a total of 31 laps, but with 44 laps to go, the Team Penske driver pulled away and finished about two seconds behind Blaney. Denny Hamlin’s performances in the five races leading up to Pocono were disappointing. He finished 24th or worse in four of those races, with his best finish being 12th at Nashville. With five races to go until the playoffs, he currently sits fourth in the points standings, just 20 points behind new leader Chase Elliott.
Denny Hamlin praises Ryan Blaney’s strong performance
After winning the second stage and having rivals like Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. pit before the end of the stage, Denny Hamlin lost key positions in the final stage, making it difficult for him to pass Blaney. The No. 11 JGR driver praised Blaney’s restart in the final 38 laps after he was at a disadvantage. “He (Ryan Blaney) had great pace there. It was really hard to even get close to him. […] It’s disappointing not to get to Victory Lane. Maybe next time,” Hamlin said [via NASCAR, 1:25].
Denny Hamlin is expected to compete in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Hamlin has started 15 times at Indianapolis with an average finish of 13.4 but is yet to win. He finished 28th in his last start of 2020, but his prior results included four top-five finishes and one top-10.
