Pocono II

Denny Hamlin started his No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota from the sixth position and wasted no time in moving toward the front of the field. Hamlin, who entered the day as a four-time winner at the tricky triangle, would climb into the second position behind his teammate Joey Logano by lap 8. He would take his first lead on lap 25 and once again proved to have one of the strongest cars on the track. Crew chief Mike Ford would call for a four-tire stop while under caution on lap 102 and with several teams only taking two tires it put Hamlin back in the fourth spot on the lap 104 restart. He would gain two spots on the restart and settle into second behind his teammate Logano. Hamlin would lose one spot to Jimmie Johnson just before rain forced a red flag stop of the race on lap 124. After a long red flag stop, the field would come back down pit road just prior to the restart on lap 131. When the green flag finally waived again Hamlin would be in the 8th position. He would manage to race his way up to the fifth spot, but loose conditions on his No. 11 Camry would make it difficult for him to gain more ground on the leaders. The team would make an adjustment during a round of green flag pit stops with 27 laps remaining and Hamlin was racing in the seventh position until a caution flag came out with 20 laps to go. The team made the decision to come down pit road for a two-tire change, but trouble on the right rear tire cost the FedEx team valuable track position leaving them toward the back of the field for the restart on lap 185.  Thus despite leading a race-high 65 laps on the day, Hamlin would be forced to settle for a 15th-place finish.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will go road course racing next weekend from Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, NY. Coverage of the race will start on Sunday, August 14 at Noon ET on ESPN (race starts at 1 PM ET). The race will also be carried on Sirius Radio NASCAR channel 90 and MRN Radio.