Harvick and Hamlin dominate NASCAR’s Pocono double

After a difficult and troubling week for America’s premier stock car racing series, it must have been something of a relief for the focus to return to on-track action as championship frontrunners Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin took the spoils.

NASCAR’s progressive attitude to racism

The Black Lives Matter movement has forced society all around the world to face up to its true values and priorities in the past few weeks, with sport providing an obvious and high-profile arena for attitudes to racism to be examined. To its credit, NASCAR has taken a proactive approach to the issue by taking the initiative, most notably on its decision to finally ban from its race tracks the Confederate flag, which has long carried uncomfortable connotations related to slavery in the southern states. Some might say the ban was too long overdue, but for a sport imbued with a strong white cultural identity, this was a hugely symbolic and important moment for US motor sport – even if for traditionalists the ban remains deeply contentious.

Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace, NASCAR’s only full-time African American racer, has naturally found himself in the spotlight in recent weeks, running a special Black Lives Matter livery on his Chevrolet as stock car racing became one of the first sports to wheel back into action following lockdown. But the refreshing attitude of positivity surrounding this most troubling of subjects took a sour turn last week when a hangman’s noose was said to have been discovered in Wallace’s garage at Talladega. A subsequent FBI investigation then appeared to explain it away as a misunderstanding involving a rope tie on a garage door, only for NASCAR to share a photo of the noose on social media that suggests something a great deal more sinister.

Whatever the truth behind the incident, the noose/rope tie represents a significant setback after weeks of honest self-assessment from NASCAR. Then again, the anger and frustration it triggered is a positive sign that finally an intolerance to racism is the new default setting for the sport and that the old unwillingness to openly talk about and face up to the issue has finally been abandoned.

Strategy call key for Harvick victory

Once the engines fired up on Saturday at Pocono, racing offered a welcome balm to the tension of the past few days, as NASCAR series leader Kevin Harvick increased his advantage with a well-executed victory for Stewart-Haas Racing.

A strategic call to take on just two fresh tyres at his final stop was key to Harvick hitting the front, as he leapfrogged team-mate Aric Almirola who changed all four corners. Hamlin also chose to take on just two new tyres and chased the new race leader home over the final 17 laps, as Harvick claimed his 52^nd career victory and, somewhat remarkably, his first at Pocono. He has now won three times since racing has resumed, as he chases a second premier-tier title to add to the one he claimed in 2014.

Hamlin turns the tables on Sunday

The following day, Hamlin reversed the result by leading Harvick home in the second act of NASCAR’s Pocono double-header. This time it was the Joe Gibbs Racing crew that made the right strategic call by leaving Hamlin out longer before his final stop and calling on the driver to race hard to build a gap.

Harvick had pitted from the lead with 36 laps to go, but Hamlin didn’t hit pit road for another 15 laps. Again, he only took on two new tyres and was able to return to the track ahead of his rival, then claimed the lead with 16 laps to go once the rest of the field had cycled through their final stops.

The victory was Hamlin’s sixth at Pocono, which ties Jeff Gordon’s record for most wins at the track, and also marks the 41^st of his career and fourth of the year. Harvick’s second place means he leaves Pennsylvania still at the top of the overall points standings, although three-time Daytona 500 winner Hamlin holds the advantage on play-off points as he chases his first title.

“If we don’t have the exact right set-up or the handling isn’t perfect, we’re still going out there and winning races because we have decent car speed,” he said. “We’re just continuing to make ourselves a little bit better, and it’s making that room for error just a little bit bigger.”

NASCAR travels next to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for one of its biggest occasions of the year, the Brickyard 400, which takes place next Sunday.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.