Highlights

Hamlin sweeps Pocono, races into Chase contention

(AP)
Updated: 2006-07-24 15:24

LONG POND, Pa. -- Denny Hamlin hardly had to use his rearview mirror at Pocono Raceway, where no one was ever close enough to catch him.

But if Hamlin had taken a peek, he might have gotten a glimpse of the chaos unfolding behind him.

Tony Stewart tangled with Clint Bowyer and Carl Edwards, leading to aggressive driving penalties for Stewart and Edwards and hot tempers all over the garage. It all overshadowed Hamlin's season sweep at Pocono.

``Covering drama is more exciting than covering the race anymore,'' quipped second-place finisher Kurt Busch.

That was never more true than Sunday, with Edwards threatening to beat up Stewart and a seething Bowyer actually seeking out the NASCAR champion before he was intercepted on pit road.

Stewart, meanwhile, was pining for the days when the late Dale Earnhardt policed the garage and kept order on the track.

It began very early in the race when Bowyer pinched Stewart into the wall. Stewart responded with a wave out his window, then his own bump of Bowyer's car. It sent Bowyer spinning into Carl Edwards and earned Stewart a one-lap penalty for aggressive driving.

A furious Edwards later drove alongside Stewart and raised his arms as if to ask ``what was that about?'' and Stewart responded with a one-fingered salute that infuriated Edwards. He spun Stewart out on pit road to earn his own penalty, and vowed over his radio to fight Stewart after the race.

``I've got to choose my words carefully -- if it weren't for the respect of the sport and the people watching and his team, he'd be out there bleeding right now,'' Edwards later fumed. ``That's so frustrating. How can a person make it this far in life being such a jerk?

``If you hold that guy up, like if he thinks you held him up, he gets so upset and then he can wreck two guys and give you the finger. That's spectacularly self-centered. I can't imagine being like that.''

Stewart recovered to finish seventh, and got back into Chase for championship contention at 10th place in the standings. He seemed rather pleased with the day's events as he stood outside his car on pit road.

But as he gave his take, a furious Bowyer had marched out to meet with him -- only to be unable to get past the front of the car. Had he made it, Stewart might have been ready with a stern Earnhardt-like lecture.

``I think if the No. 3 car was here, I don't think we would have the same problems in this series as we have,'' Stewart said. ``He always had a way of letting drivers know where they stood and when to move and when not to move. It's just the first-year and second-year drivers that don't understand that there needs to be a little give-and-take.

``There is only a handful of guys that don't get it, but the problem that they are in good race cars and they don't run up front enough to learn from the rest of us how to race up front.''

Dale Earnhardt Jr., meanwhile, is out of the top 10 after a hit from Dave Blaney sent him into the wall and out of the race. He finished 43rd for the second straight week and needed almost 30 minutes to cool off before coming out of his transporter.

Third in points two weeks ago, Junior is now 11th in the standings with just six races to go to qualify for the Chase.

``What am I supposed to do?'' he wondered. ``My motor blows up (last week) and now I got wrecked. I don't know what else to do.''

Hamlin doesn't have such worries -- not after scoring his second career victory. The first came six weeks ago here when he recovered from a spin through the grass and needed to hold off NASCAR's heavyweights on a late restart.

This one was far easier, with Hamlin leading 151 of the 200 laps in what turned into a leisurely Sunday drive for one of NASCAR's budding young stars.

He's eighth in points and if he can hang on another six weeks, Hamlin will find himself racing for the Nextel Cup title.

``We'll just keep plugging away. That's all we can do,'' he said. ``Fate is going to decide this Chase. We are in right now, we are just going to try and stay there.''

Hamlin became the sixth driver to sweep the season at Pocono, and did it from the pole both times. Pretty impressive for a kid who had never seen the track before he showed up last month and used video games to learn his way around it.

``For Denny's first two times here, undefeated is pretty incredible,'' crew chief Mike Ford said. ``Two poles, two wins, he really adapted to this track well.''

Ford then packed the car up and prepared to send it to Indianapolis for the prestigious Brickyard 400 in two weeks.

Busch finished second to Hamlin for the second time this season.

``We kept adjusting on the car all day to tweak it up or kick it in the rear to catch up to Denny,'' Busch said. ``He had a great race car, and the rest of us were battling for second.''

Jeff Gordon was third and was followed by Brian Vickers, Kevin Harvick and points leader Jimmie Johnson.

Stewart, Bobby Labonte, Jeff Burton and Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top 10.