Zach Catanzareti Photo • Wikki Commons
Kevin Harvick gets his first career win at Pocono on day one of a historic weekend for NASCAR.
The NASCAR Cup series headed north over the weekend for a historical event. For the first time ever, NASCAR’s top series competed at the same track two days in a row. While it might seem like this was a scheduling decision due to COVID-19, the double header was actually put on this season’s schedule in 2019. Ford driver Kevin Harvick and Team Toyota driver Denny Hamlin found themselves dueling in both races.
Rain continued to plague the series, delaying the start of Saturday’s race. Once the track was dry, the field roared to full speed at the three-turned “Tricky Triangle.” Clean air proved to be vital as the lead car was able to maintain control the pace unless a competitor had drafting help or a better handling car. Stage one ended with the Ford trio of Joey Logano, Aric Almirola and Ryan Blaney leading the way.
Stage two saw the Ford brand continue to flex the Mustang muscle. Four of the top five spots went to the blue oval brand at the end of the second stage with Almirola and Logano led Martin Truex’s Toyota to the line.
The third and final stage was all about pit strategy. Some teams decided to pit early in hopes of leap-frogging competitors who decided to stay on the track longer. Those who stayed out hoped to build their lead so when they did pit, they would remain in front of the early pitters.
With 36 laps remaining, Harvick used a well executed two-tire stop to hold off a hard-charging Hamlin for his first career win at Pocono. “We weren‘t where we needed to be to start the race and lost a bunch of track position, but we came back and made some great strategy calls to get in clean air and get out front and make some good laps,” said Harvick. Hamlin settled for second and Almirola finished the day with a strong third place finish.
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With Sunday’s victory, Denny Hamlin ties Jeff Gordon on the all-time Pocono wins list with six.
Sunday’s race played out much like Saturday’s, including a weather delay. Sunday’s race was first pushed back due to lightning in the area and then a 50 minute rain delay after only four completed laps. Once the green flag returned to the air, former champion Kurt Busch put his No. 1 Chevy out front for the duration of stage one. It was Busch’s first stage win of the season. Blaney took second and rookie Christopher Bell finished the stage in third.
Ford regained control of the track in stage two. Pit strategy put Brad Keselowski up front and his Penske Racing No. 2 set the pace all the way to the green/white checkered flag with fellow Ford drivers Almirola and Ryan Newman in tow.
After being beat by pit strategy on Saturday, Hamlin and his crew decided to use the “stay out” approach once the No. 11 took the lead in stage three. While the majority of the field pitted, Hamlin stayed out, building up his lead. With less than 20 laps to go, Hamlin pulled his Toyota into the pits for a splash of gas and right side tires. He exited pit road and returned to the track still ahead of Harvick. Once the remaining cars pitted, Hamlin assumed the lead and with Harvick battling lap traffic, the Joe Gibbs driver cruised his record-tying sixth Pocono win ahead of Harvick and teammate Eric Jones. “I knew we had the car, and I was just kind of maintaining my gap right there — didn‘t want to make any mistakes like I did at Bristol and gave that win away.” said Hamlin.
It will be another history-making event this weekend as NASCAR will team with Indycar for a doubleheader weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Indycar will be in action on the track’s road course on Saturday with the Cup series taking to the famed Brickyard track on Sunday. No fans will be in attendance.