CUP: Hamlin Showing More Strength

Denny Hamlin made one mistake Sunday. Fortunately, it came after he had soared to a solid victory in the Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway.

LINK> UNOFFICIAL RESULTS: GILLETTE FUSION PROGLIDE 500 - POCONO PDF> UNOFFICIAL DRIVER POINTS: GILLETTE FUSION PROGLIDE 500 - POCONO

While celebrating his fourth win of the season with an extended burnout on the track’s frontstretch, Hamlin let his Toyota slip to the left, and it slammed into the outside wall, crumpling the left front.

The damage was clearly visible in victory lane, a spot Hamlin visited at Pocono for the fourth time, but, considering the big positives of the day, it was barely a footnote.

For Hamlin, it was win No. 4 at Pocono, a track he seems to have adopted as his own.

“I just search around and seem to find what works,” Hamlin said. “The thing is, though, I've got cars good enough to where I can run 80 percent all day and still be able to keep up with the guys. That’s what makes it easy for me to look really good is the fact that I don't have to push my car over the limit and it still has speed.”

Hamlin won the race in an overtime green-white-checkered run but came within a few feet of winning in regulation. A late-race caution flag flew an instant before the white flag, and Hamlin barely missed crossing the finish line in time to freeze the field and effectively end the race.

“I was right there,” Hamlin said. “With two laps to go, I asked Mike [crew chief Mike Ford], I said, ‘Hey, should we start conserving just for fuel?’ I was running the last 10 laps once we had the lead hard enough to make sure the guys weren't catching us.

“I said, ‘Should I slow down, make sure we have enough fuel in case of a green-white-checkered?’ He said, ‘No, get that white flag as quick as you can, come around this track as fast as you can.’ The second half of the lap, I picked it up. I was like, ‘All right, I'll try to get there.’ I realized anything can happen.

“I was, I mean, a hundred yards maybe from the start/finish line when the caution did come out.

“That’s why I like winning them better this way, though. It’s not just walking away; you really got to earn it.”

The key to the green-white-checkered restart, Hamlin said, “was just getting off turn one ahead of those guys. Once I did that, I knew it was pretty much race over.”

Hamlin now is firmly in the group of favorites chasing the championship.

“I feel like we’re one of four or five guys that really are legitimate, week in, week out, up-front guys,” he said. “That's a good feeling right now. But it’s very tough to stay on top of any sport for an entire year. Our sport is a rollercoaster. It goes up and down. It has waves. Your performance always comes in waves.

“But I’m definitely very confident in what we have planned for the Chase, the cars we have planned for the Chase. Right now we are being conservative, believe it or not, in our attempt for this season. Hopefully, we peak at the right time. I mean, anyone would say, ‘Yeah, you’re peaking now.’ Really, I feel like the best is yet to come.”

LINK> UNOFFICIAL RESULTS: GILLETTE FUSION PROGLIDE 500 - POCONO PDF> UNOFFICIAL DRIVER POINTS: GILLETTE FUSION PROGLIDE 500 - POCONO

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.