Hamlin Wins Again at Pocono on Tense Day

As Denny Hamlin celebrated his second win of the season, chaos reigned in NASCAR’s garage.

Carl Edwards threatened to beat up Tony Stewart. Clint Bowyer also wanted to, but couldn’t get close enough to try.

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

Just another day Sunday at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa., where Hamlin completed a season sweep by winning the Pennsylvania 500 race that had two aggressive driving penalties and saw Dale Earnhardt Jr. take another hit in his title hopes.

“Covering drama is more exciting than covering the race anymore,� quipped second-place finisher Kurt Busch. “It’s exciting out there. When guys are very adamant about gaining one spot versus the next, it heats up with each race closing toward the Chase.�

It was sizzling on Sunday, when Bowyer pinched Stewart into the wall early in the race.

Stewart responded with a wave out his window, then his own bump of Bowyer’s car. It sent Bowyer spinning into Edwards and earned Stewart a one-lap penalty for aggressive driving.

A furious Edwards later drove alongside Stewart and raised his arms at him. Stewart responded with an obscene gesture. That infuriated Edwards, who 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 said. “That’s so frustrating. How can a person make it this far in life being such a jerk?

“I want to like Tony. 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 get back into Chase for championship contention at 10th in the standings.

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 would 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.�

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 the points two weeks ago, Earnhardt Jr. is now 11th in the standings with only six races to go to qualify for the Chase.

Hamlin led 151 of the 200 laps. He’s eighth in the points and could find himself racing for the Nextel Cup title.

Hamlin, who became the sixth driver to sweep the season at Pocono, winning the Pocono 500 on June 11, said: “We’ll just keep plugging away. That’s all we can do. Fate is going to decide this Chase. We are in right now, we are just going to try and stay there.�

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

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Tony Kanaan held off a late charge by Sam Hornish Jr. to win the IndyCar Series race in West Allis, Wis.

Hornish passed Dario Franchitti for third place after a restart with 16 laps to go, then passed rookie Marco Andretti for second two laps later.

Hornish couldn’t catch Kanaan at the end and finished second, retaining the series points lead. Tomas Scheckter finished third, followed by Danica Patrick. Andretti and Franchitti dropped to fifth and sixth.

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Nicky Hayden won his second straight U.S. Grand Prix motorcycle race at Laguna Seca in Monterey to extend his lead in the points standings.

Hayden’s Repsol Honda teammate, Dani Pedrosa, was second and Italian Marco Melandri finished third.

Defending world champion Valentino Rossi failed to finish the race for the third time this year after his engine blew up on Lap 30 of 32.

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Justin Wilson made no mistakes this time, bouncing back from a disappointing finish in last year’s Edmonton Grand Prix to pull away at the end for his first Champ Car victory of the season.

Wilson lost a shot at victory when he crashed on a restart late in last year’s race.

Sebastien Bourdais was second and A.J. Allmendinger, who came into the race with a three-race winning streak, finished third.