Nothing could stop Denny Hamlin from winning Sunday at Pocono Raceway!

photo credit: Chris Trotman/Getty Images for NASCAR

He didn’t lose his focus after close to a two hour rain delay prevented the race from starting on time. Hamlin couldn’t be stopped even after a green-white-checkered finish and a multiple car accident that stacked up the field behind him.

“We knew right from the get-go that first run when we took the lead early we had a good car,” Hamlin said. “I felt like the track stayed pretty consistent. Our car stayed pretty consistent. There was some stuff, going back on it now when we come back that we’ll probably change to make our car a little bit better. We just conserved for most of the day. I wrote it on the dash because I knew I was going to have to use it all at the end. Races don’t come easy when you run first or third and you get the win at the end. There’s always a wrench that kind of gets thrown in there and messes up your whole plan. I knew it was going to be important to save everything I could till the very end, and when I needed to get more out of it, I could.”

Hamlin led a race-high 88 laps en route to his fourth win and seventh top-10 finish at Pocono.

It’s a series-leading fourth win for Hamlin this season. It’s the sixth win for Joe Gibbs Racing in the past 9 races.

“I think what’s happened to us, our drivers and our teams have done a great job of working together,” team owner Coach Joe Gibbs said. “As an example, I think here obviously Denny, this is his favorite racetrack. If you would have asked Kyle last week, he probably would have rated this the toughest racetrack for him. Joey, very similar statements would come from him. I think they’ve kind of fed off of Denny and Mike. Crew chiefs, Zippy and David over there, have fed a lot off the 11 car. Such an example of teamwork. People say you have three different cars, but really truly it takes great teamwork at this level.”

Hamlin’s JGR teammate, Kyle Busch finished second.

“It’s great for JGR,” Busch said. “That’s what teammates are all about, is to help one another, to see one get to Victory Lane. You know, it’s cool to have us all running like that where we can do it and have a shot to win every week. Yeah, it’s bittersweet we didn’t get a Victory Lane. If you’re going to lose to anybody around this place, it’s certainly going to be the 11.”

“I felt like the 11 and 18, along with the 33, were the best cars today.”

Going into this race at Pocono, Kyle Busch had only led two laps there. After starting from the pole, Busch would go on to lead four times for a total of 32 laps. It’s the third top-10 finish in his 11 races for Busch at the Tricky Triangle.

“Denny has this place figured out,” Busch said. “I did the best I could. I went from about an F at knowing how to get around here today to about an A, and an A didn’t get it done. Really happy for the 11 guys. Good to see them win another one. For us to run as strong as we were running, same about the 20, the 20 was running really good there until his whatever happened. It was good to see JGR running good like that here.”

Last year’s race winner, Tony Stewart finished 3rd.

“We just never got good track position all day,” Stewart said. “Finally when we got good track position at the end of the day, we were decent obviously. We drove away from the 18 car. He probably said he thought we were going to run out of fuel. His lap times, he wasn’t backing off of it. We were able to drive away from him at the end of the day. I’m happy where we ended up because of it. But we still got a lot of work to do I think. I feel like there’s light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s still a long ways away. We still got a lot of work to do.”

After Stewart’s 3rd place finish, he moved up three spots in the point standings to 13th. He’s just one mere point outside the top 12 that will get locked in to compete in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship after 12 more races.

Clint Bowyer was out in front for 59 laps. He finished 9th.

NASCAR will need some time to sort out the finishing order after a nine car accident happened just as Hamlin was about to cross the finish line.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 8 cautions for 27 laps and 14 lead changes among 7 drivers: Kyle Busch 1-4; D. Hamlin 5-17; B. Labonte 18; Kyle Busch 19-37; C. Bowyer 38-77; D. Hamlin 78-79; C. Bowyer 80-98; Kyle Busch 99-100; K. Harvick 101-105; D. Hamlin 106-158; Kyle Busch 159-165; D. Hamlin 166-168; Kurt Busch 169-171; S. Hornish Jr. 172-187; D. Hamlin 188-204

As Kyle Busch said, “the 20 was running really good there until his whatever happened”. Joey Logano was running in the top-5 when “his whatever happened” after contact from Kevin Harvick sent him spinning.

“Racing the 29 (Kevin Harvick) and he let me go in the middle of the straightaway and decided to dump me in the next turn,” Logano said from the garage. “I don’t know what his deal is with me. It’s probably not his fault. His wife wears the firesuit in the family and tells him what to do. It’s probably not his fault.”

After battling back to finish 13th and climbing from his race car, Logano walked over to the #29 car but was restrained by Harvick’s crew.

“He needs to know how I feel. No one lets me go up and talk to the guy. You get out of the car and want to talk to the guy and see whats going on and there’s 6000 crew members around you and you can’t go up and talk to him. So I mean how you’re supposed to settle something when you can’t even talk to the guy? Which there’s no talking to him anyway.”

“I got into him there going into (Turn) 3,” Harvick said. “He just races with not giving people any respect and not much room. So, we just wound up getting together. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it goes.”

Kevin Harvick remains on top of the standings by 19 points over 2nd place, Kyle Busch.