Denny Hamlin wins at Pocono Raceway

Denny Hamlin deserves the title of "Mr. Pocono."

Hamlin won for the fourth time in the last nine races on the so-called "Tricky Triangle" at Long Pond and got his 12th career victory in NASCAR's top series, holding on to the lead during a wild, green-white checkered finish to take the Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 Sunday at Pocono Raceway.

While Hamlin was on his way to the finish line, an eight-car crash on the last lap brought a mangled, messy finish to a race that had been clean for most of the day.

Pole-sitter Kyle Busch finished second and Tony Stewart was third.

While Hamlin was celebrating, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Joey Logano, was trying to get after Kevin Harvick and had to be restrained.

Those two, who have a history of animosity, collided while entering Turn 3 on the 199th lap. Logano was headed for a top-five finish.

The Logano-Harvick crash prompted the green-white checkered finish.

"I don't know what I've ever done to [bleep] him off," Logano said. "But he's apparently stupid.

"He needs to know how I feel and no one ever lets me talk to the guy. You want to get out of the car and talk to the guy and see what's going on, and he's got 6,000 crew members around him who won't let you talk to the guy. How can you get something settled when you can't even talk to the guy."

It was a much happier scene on Victory Lane where Hamlin was celebrating his fourth win this year on the Sprint Cup circuit this season.

The race was delayed at the start by heavy rain that began to fall just as the cars had gotten on the track for a few pace car laps.

The delay lasted nearly two hours. Eventually, rain stopped, the sun came out and track dried out with help from a variety of blowers.

The first half of the race was dominated by No. 2 qualifier Clint Bowyer, who led 59 of the first 100 laps. Kyle Busch led for another 25.

There were just two cautions during the first half of the race, but the stoppages were much more frequent down the stretch and the race came down to fuel strategy and power during the double-file restarts.

In all, there were 14 lead changes and seven cautions for 26 laps. Hamlin led for 86 of the 200 laps.

Harvick, who finished fourth, still leads the series by 19 points.

From Keith Groller