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Hamlin nets OT victory

LONG POND — Denny Hamlin had enough fuel in the No. 11 Toyota to pull away off the final restart in an overtime finish Sunday for his fifth victory at Pocono Raceway.

Hamlin raced to his third victory of the season and 34th overall in NACAR Cup Series race, giving Joe Gibbs Racing its 11th win in 21 races this season.

Hamlin held off teammates Erik Jones, who needed a win to secure a spot in the playoffs, and Martin Truex Jr. to secure the victory that eluded him last week.

With the leaders running low on fuel, Hamlin had enough left to get a good jump off two late restarts that made the difference.

“I was really worried,” Hamlin said. “We just did a great job with the car.”

Hamlin seemingly had the race won in regulation when he took the lead off a restart with four laps to go after Kurt Busch slammed into the wall to bring out another caution. Hamlin, Jones and Truex made it a 1-2-3 running order for JGR as the race headed into OT. That’s the way it shook out after three extra laps.

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