Race Lineup

HighPoint.com 400

Sunday, July 23rd, 2023

Pocono Raceway, Long Pond, PA

  • 16 Chevrolet
  • 14 Ford
  • 6 Toyota

  • Pocono Raceway
  • HighPoint.com 400
  • Busch Pole Award Pole Winner: William Byron
  • Age: 25
  • Team : No. 24 - RaptorTough.com Chevrolet
  • Owner: Rick Hendrick
  • Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
  • William Byron won the Pole Award for the HighPoint.com 400 with a lap of 52.746 seconds, 170.629 mph.
  • This is his 11th pole in 201 NASCAR Cup Series races.
  • This is his third pole and 14th top-10 start in 2023.
  • This is his second pole in ten races at Pocono Raceway.
  • Martin Truex Jr. (second) posted his ninth top-10 start of 2023 and his 12th in 34 races at Pocono Raceway.
  • Kyle Larson (third) posted his sixth top-10 start at Pocono Raceway. It is his 13th in 21 races this season.
  • Ty Gibbs (11th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.

  • Sunday, July 23rd, 2023
  • NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain
Denny Hamlin Wins HighPoint.com 400 at Pocono Raceway

Denny Hamlin prevailed in a tight door-to-door bump-and-go pass on Kyle Larson with seven laps remaining to claim a historic all-time best seventh NASCAR Cup Series victory at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway – the win in Sunday's HighPoint.com 400 also marking Hamlin's 50th career trophy and second of the 2023 season

The race ended under caution for a last lap incident elsewhere on track, and the Pocono crowd voiced its displeasure, booing loudly as Hamlin's No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota led the field to pit road at the 2.5-mile track after the checkered flag. Hamlin, 42, maintained the action was just close-quarter racing for a win. Larson, who finished 21st after the contact, disagreed and was none too happy with his good friend and golf partner.

"Both guys wrecked themselves," Hamlin said of Larson and contact he had earlier with Larson's teammate Alex Bowman. "There was a lane. He [Larson] missed the corner first and evidently didn't have his right side tires clean and when he gassed up and got going again, you have an option in those positions to either hold it wide open and hit the fence or lift and race it out.

"Those were choices they made. I didn't hit either one of them. Didn't touch them."

"I love it, I love it," Hamlin said, acknowledging the boos.

"I thought we had the best car and the strategy worked out. Just so happy we're winning these races we should win."

Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion, did not mince words after climbing out of his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Instead of a Top-5 finish – or possible victory – he recovered from the incident to cross the finish line 21st.

"First off, really proud of my team, they got us in position to race for the win," said Larson, who did earn the Stage 2 win – his third of the year. "We got spun early [in the race] and the car was never really the same after that, but we played the strategy really well to get us up there. Just unfortunate.

"I've been cost a lot of good finishes by him throughout my career, and I know he says that I race a certain way, but I don't think I've ever had to apologize to him about anything, not that I'm sure he'll say ‘I'm sorry' after this but it is what it is.

"Just move on and try to go to Richmond, where we won earlier this year.

"It is what it is. Yeah, we're friends. Yes, this makes things awkward. But he's always right. All the buddies know, Denny's always right. It is what it is. I'm not gonna let it tarnish our friendship off track. But I am pissed, and I feel like I should be pissed.

"I think at this point I have the right," Larson said of potentially racing Hamlin differently on track going forward. "Like I've said, I've never had to apologize to him about anything I've done on the racetrack. I can count four or five times where he's had to reach out to me and say, ‘sorry I've put you in a bad spot there.' So eventually, like he says, you have to start racing people a certain way to get the respect back."

Hamlin earned Toyota its 600th career win in the three NASCAR national series combined and led his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. across the finish line. Tyler Reddick, who drives for the 23XI Racing Toyota team that Hamlin is part-owner of, finished third. Stewart-Haas Racing's Kevin Harvick and the remaining two JGR cars of rookie Ty Gibbs and Christopher Bell rounded out the Top-6.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Harrison Burton and Hendrick's Chase Elliott rounded out the top-10. It marked the second top-10 of the season for the 22-year old Burton. And the effort from Elliott leaves him 59-points out of the 16-driver Playoff pool with five more regular season races remaining for the 2020 series champion to race for another trophy, after missing six races in 2023.

Elliott's Hendrick Motorsports teammate, the race polesitter William Byron, led the most laps (60) of the day, but finished 24th. He now trails Truex by 30 points for the regular season title.

Varying pit strategies – and in particular on the final green flag run – changed the leaderboard in the last 30-40 laps of the race. Some drivers that hadn't run top-5 all day postponed their last stop hoping for a caution flag. However, the day's strongest cars were in position to settle the trophy; some – such as Larson and Hamlin – on a two-tire pit stop and some – such as Truex and Byron – with four fresh tires.

There were 11 cautions on the day and incidents on three consecutive restarts after the Stage 1 break impacted the Playoff situations of multiple drivers

The first re-start following the Stage break not only involved the Stage 1 winner Joey Logano, but also collected Trackhouse Racing's Daniel Suarez who went into the race a mere 1-point behind Michael McDowell for that 16th and final Playoff position. McDowell's car suffered some damage too, but he was able to drive on. Logano's No. 22 Penske Racing Ford was towed back and repaired but Suarez's No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet pit needing extensive work and ultimately drove back to the garage.

With five races remaining, Suarez dropped to 18th in the championship standings and his deficit to 16th place McDowell now stands at 23 points..

"At the end of the day it's our fault we shouldn't be back there with those guys, squirrels," a frustrated Suarez said, adding, "It was a racing incident, but we shouldn't be racing those guys. We can only control what we can control.”

  • Drivers Entered: 36
  • Laps Scheduled: 160
  • Margin of Victory: Under Caution Seconds
  • Time of Race: 3 Hours 21 Minutes 4 Seconds
  • Average Speed: 119.363
  • Cautions: 11 for 44 laps
  • Lead Changes: 14
  • Green Flag Passes: 3,417 (29.5 passes per green flag lap)

  • Pocono Raceway
  • HighPoint.com 400
  • Race Winner: Denny Hamlin
  • Age: 42
  • Team : No. 11 - Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota
  • Owner: Joe Gibbs
  • Crew Chief: Christopher Gabehart
  • Denny Hamlin won the HighPoint.com 400, his 50th victory in 635 Cup Series races.
  • This is his second victory and ninth top-10 finish in 2023.
  • This is his seventh victory and 22nd top-10 finish in 34 races at Pocono Raceway.
  • Tyler Reddick (second) posted his third top-10 finish in six races at Pocono Raceway. It is his ninth top-10 finish in 2023.
  • Martin Truex Jr. (third) posted his 15th top-10 finish in 34 races at Pocono Raceway.
  • Ty Gibbs (fifth) was the highest finishing rookie.
  • Martin Truex Jr. leads the point standings by 30 points over William Byron.
William Byron leads the field to the green flag
Long Pond, Pennsylvania - July 23, 2023 : William Byron, driver of the #24 RaptorTough.com Chevrolet, leads the field to the green flag to start the NASCAR Cup Series HighPoint.com 400 at Pocono Raceway.
Logan RielyGetty Images
Race lineup for the HighPoint.com 400 at Pocono Raceway
START VEH # DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR TEAM CREW CHIEF
1 24 William Byron Chevrolet RaptorTough.com Hendrick Motorsports Rudy Fugle
2 19 Martin Truex Jr Toyota Interstate Batteries Joe Gibbs Racing James Small
3 5 Kyle Larson Chevrolet HendrickCars.com Hendrick Motorsports Cliff Daniels
4 4 Kevin Harvick Ford Busch Light Peach Stewart-haas Racing Rodney Childers
5 20 Christopher Bell Toyota Yahoo! Joe Gibbs Racing Adam Stevens
6 22 Joey Logano Ford Verizon Frontline Team Penske Paul Wolfe
7 45 Tyler Reddick Toyota Jordan Brand 23xi Racing Billy Scott
8 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota Mavis Tires & Brakes Joe Gibbs Racing Chris Gabehart
9 2 Austin Cindric Ford Menards\Libman Team Penske Jeremy Bullins
10 23 Bubba Wallace Toyota Leidos 23xi Racing Bootie Barker
11 54 Ty Gibbs Toyota He Gets us Joe Gibbs Racing Chris Gayle
12 7 Corey Lajoie Chevrolet TBA Spire Motorsports Ryan Sparks
13 6 Brad Keselowski Ford King's Hawaiian Rfk Racing Matt McCall
14 12 Ryan Blaney Ford Advance Auto Parts Team Penske Jonathan Hassler
15 34 Michael McDowell Ford Benebone Front Row Motorsports Travis Peterson
16 16 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet Action Industries Kaulig Racing Matt Swiderski
17 99 Daniel Suarez Chevrolet Jockey Trackhouse Racing Travis Mack
18 17 Chris Buescher Ford Wyndham Rewards Rfk Racing Scott Graves
19 31 Justin Haley Chevrolet TBA Kaulig Racing Trent Owens
20 48 Alex Bowman Chevrolet Ally Best Friends Hendrick Motorsports Blake Harris
21 1 Ross Chastain Chevrolet Worldwide Express Trackhouse Racing Phil Surgen
22 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Chevrolet Blue Buffalo Jtg Daugherty Racing Mike Kelley
23 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet BREZTRI Richard Childress Racing Keith Rodden
24 43 Erik Jones Chevrolet U.S. AIR FORCE Legacy Motor Club Dave Elenz
25 8 Kyle Busch Chevrolet TBA Richard Childress Racing Randall Burnett
26 21 Harrison Burton Ford DEX Imaging Wood Brothers Racing Brian Wilson
27 10 Aric Almirola Ford Ford Stewart-haas Racing Drew Blickensderfer
28 15 JJ Yeley Ford Patriot Mobile Rick Ware Racing Jerry Kelley
29 14 Chase Briscoe Ford HighPoint.com Stewart-haas Racing Richard Boswell
30 78 BJ McLeod Chevrolet B'laster Live Fast Motorsports David Ingram
31 51 Cole Custer Ford Jacob Companies Rick Ware Racing Billy Plourde
32 42 Noah Gragson Chevrolet Sunseeker Resort Legacy Motor Club Luke Lambert
33 77 Ty Dillon Chevrolet Gainbridge Spire Motorsports Kevin Bellicourt
34 41 Ryan Preece Ford Mohawk Northeast Stewart-haas Racing Chad Johnston
35 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet NAPA Auto Parts Hendrick Motorsports Alan Gustafson
36 38 Todd Gilliland Ford Speedy Cash Front Row Motorsports Ryan Bergenty