Denny Hamlin Secures His Seventh Pocono Win: HighPoint.com 400 Highlights

The NASCAR Cup Series‘ July schedule continued Sunday with the HighPoint.com 400 at Pocono Raceway, and we had you covered with all the action from Denny Hamlin‘s monumental win — the 50th of his career, which also made him the all-time winningest driver in Pocono’s history with seven victories.

NASCAR’s top stars battled it out over 160 laps on the 2.5-mile asphalt speedway, also known as The Tricky Triangle, in front of a sold-out crowd in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.

With playoffs right around the corner, every moment mattered in this one.

You can find a full list of winners so far this year, as well as the season’s remaining schedule here.

Here are the top moments!

Seeing green

Just like that, things were underway in Pennsylvania!

William Byron, who checked in at third on our latest power rankings, started on the pole — marking his third pole of the 2023 season and the second of his career at Pocono.

Meanwhile, Chase Elliott and Todd Gilliland started at the rear for unapproved adjustments.

There’s No. 1

Byron got a great jump and led the opening lap, but it wasn’t smooth sailing for everyone.

It only took six laps for the first caution, as J.J. Yeley spun out of control and went into the wall.

Tire issues

Then, shortly after, Corey LaJoie made contact with the wall and was forced to go to pit road with a flat tire.

Joey Logano dominates Stage 1

Logano took the lead early on in Stage 1 and went on to win the stage, leading 21 of the first 30 laps.

He was followed by Martin Truex Jr. in second and Hamlin in third.

Talk about a 180

After a strong start, things went awry for Logano, who didn’t make it past the first turn of the restart in Stage 2.

After making contact with multiple cars around him, Logano’s car spun into the wall and had to be assisted off the track. Meanwhile, Daniel Suárez went crashing into the wall, with his car a mess in the aftermath of the caution.

Both Logano and Suárez were done for the day.

More Turn 1 issues

Austin Dillon went sliding and slamming into the wall near the end of Turn 1, bringing out a caution.

Déjà vu

It took about 10 seconds for another yellow flag to present itself after the restart, as Kyle Larson appeared to get bumped a bit and went backwards into the wall on Turn 1. Larson was able to drive away, though.

Byron was cruising

Prior to pitting on Lap 79, Byron led for 45 consecutive laps.

Larson wins Stage 2

Christopher Bell hit the wall and brought out a caution with five laps to go in Stage 2, leading to Larson taking the stage after wrecking earlier in the stage.

Ty Dillon finished second, with Byron behind him in third.

Chaos!

Dillon was running 11th as the third stage got underway, but he took a huge hit from Tyler Reddick — and chaos ensued.

Helmets go flying

Dillon felt some type of way about it and threw his helmet at Reddick as he passed by Dillon’s wrecked car.

The green flag returned with 50 laps to go, but Dillon’s day was over.

Caution comes out

After a stretch of green racing, Chase Briscoe went smashing into the wall on Turn 3 of Lap 144, bringing out a caution.

More Turn 3 issues

Alex Bowman lost control on Turn 3 of Lap 150 and went into the wall, bringing out another caution.

Larson led after the caution.

Lead change

Then, Hamlin took the lead, in the process bumping Kyle Larson high up the track into the wall

Winner!

Ryan Preece hit the wall on Lap 159 and wasn’t able to get off the track, bringing out a caution on Lap 160 with Hamlin out in front — and the rest was history.

Not so fast

Hamlin was met with boos upon crossing the finish line because of how the race ended, which fans weren’t happy with.

Truex, Reddick, Kevin Harvick and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top-five finishers.

Larson sounds off

Larson didn’t hold back in a post-race interview when asked about Hamlin’s move that aided his victory.

PRE-RACE

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