Harvick now tied with Hamlin with 3 wins after victory at Pocono (6-27-20)
By: Becca Cottingham
Headline Photo Courtesy: USA Today
We head North to Pennsylvania to the beautiful place called Pocono. After a little over an hour of delay for the weather we got underway. Aric Almirola leads the field to green. Kyle Busch starts making his way around just a few drivers trying to get to the first position. We did have Martin Truex Jr bring us to three wide briefly. After the competition caution we temporarily go five wide for drivers to make moves. Right after coming off the competition caution Quin Houff spins and hits the wall. Joey Logano gets out front of Aric Almirola and is able to hold the lead until end of stage one.
Ryan Newman wins the race off of pit road. A lot of drivers decided to go for gas only. However, Joey Logano stayed out on the track and will be come down pit road later. A couple other drivers also opted to stay out and not pit. Aric Almirola got around Joey Logano and is back up front leading the way. As we start to see some green flag stops of drivers who did not stop. This has cycled to Martin Truex Jr currently as the race leader. When Martin Truex Jr pitted Denny Hamlin took over. When the caution flies multiple drivers come out and several drivers got caught one lap down. Tyler Reddick and Erik Jones got into each other and brought out the fifth caution. Tyler Reddick has lost his rear crush panel. Joey Logano and Aric Almirola are battling for the second stage win. Aric Almirola will get the stage two win.
We enter into the final stage where multiple drivers did not pit at the end of stage two. They will be making green flag pit stops for fuel and tires to go through the end of stage three. It appears that once they cycle through Kevin Harvick will more than likely be our leader. For now Ryan Newman leads the first set up laps since his crash in Daytona. He is not going to want to willingly give up the lead for gas and tires. He ends up coming down pit road for gas and tires. The game now will be Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin with eight laps to go. Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick are running just about the same line. Lap traffic is going to be a big factor between the two drivers. Denny Hamlin also is complaining about a very bad vibration. They believe he may have a loose tire. The two of them battled and Denny Hamlin comes close to taking the lead. Kevin Harvick holds onto the lead by breaking the draft by going low on the front stretch to help him keep the lead. Kevin Harvick is currently the unofficial winner of today’s race at Pocono.
