Coming into the weekend searching for his first win of the season, Denny Hamlin looked dominant for much of the early stages of Sunday’s 5-Hour Energy 500 at Pocono Raceway. Starting fourth, Hamlin quickly made his way to the front to lead the first lap and would lead four times for a total of 76 laps.
Denny Hamlin’s Dominant Day In Pocono Ruined By Flat Tire
Setting the pace for the first 100 laps, Hamlin struggled on pit road as his Mike Ford-led crew had an uncharacteristically slow day. Despite losing spots and time on pit road, Hamlin was able to stay in the fight and contend for the win until the final caution of the day brought the field to pit road.
After leaving pit road third with less than 45 laps to go, Hamlin’s was forced back to pit road with a flat left rear tire. Somehow the valve stem on the left rear tire broke off, causing the tire to go flat.
With damage to the left rear quarter panel, parts of the tire wrapped around the rear end housing and no brakes, Hamlin’s chances at a fifth Pocono victory were erased.
“We were just coasting there at the beginning and just nothing really went right,” he said. “We struggled a little bit on pit road. We gave up about 10 seconds for the first green flag stop to the 42 (Juan Pablo Montoya) and he short pitted so that made it look even worse.”
Hamlin said that getting off-sequence in the pit stops meant his competitors would gain ground while he was racing on older tires.
“But then when we left pit road and had a flat tire – that is just not your day,” he said. “When it did that, it sheared the tire and wrapped it around the housing and broke the brakes lines so I had no brakes – it was just a slew of problems there at the end.”
The disappointing finish at one of Hamlin’s best tracks dropped him one spot in the standings to 12th, nine points behind Ryan Newman in 10th.
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