LONG POND, Pa. (AP) _ Denny Hamlin completed the Pocono sweep on Sunday, blowing away the field for an easy second victory that pushed the rookie into championship contention.
While Hamlin was cruising around Pocono Raceway, teammate Tony Stewart nearly self-destructed and Dale Earnhardt Jr. took another hit in his pursuit of the Nextel Cup title.
Stewart, the two-time and defending Nextel Cup champion, was black-flagged early in the race for intentionally wrecking Clint Bowyer. Stewart had been pushed up the track and against the wall by Bowyer, and angrily waved his hand out the window as the cars separated.
He then swerved directly into the side of Bowyer's car, sending it into a spin that collected Carl Edwards. NASCAR flagged Stewart for aggressive driving, and pulled him into the pits for a one-lap penalty that dropped him to 41st.
Stewart refused to apologize in radio communication with his team, but vowed to make up his mistake on the track. He wasted no time doing so, quickly getting back onto the lead lap. But on the next round of pit stops, Edwards gave him a retaliatory shove that spun Stewart and earned Edwards his own penalty for aggressive driving.
Stewart still worked his way to a seventh place finish, good enough to move back into 10th in the Chase for the championship standings. But he took little blame for the accident with Bowyer, and instead ranted about the aggressiveness of today's young drivers.
``Four guys ended up having a bad day because one guy couldn't be a little patient and use a little give-and-take,'' Stewart said. ``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.''
Bowyer attempted to speak to Stewart out on pit road, but never made it past the front of Stewart's car because of the crush of people surrounding the champion. The rookie instead retreated back to his motorhome, scowling the entire way.
But Edwards _ who had vowed over his radio to beat up Stewart after the race _ was rather outspoken.
``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 fumed. ``That's so frustrating. How can a person make it this far in life being such a jerk?''
Earnhardt, 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, 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 the 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.
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.
``This is just a great car,'' Hamlin said.
Kurt Busch finished second and was followed by Jeff Gordon, Brian Vickers, Kevin Harvick and points leader Jimmie Johnson.
Stewart, Bobby Labonte, Jeff Burton and Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top 10.
