June 21, 2025 | By High Limit Racing PR

Hamlin Grabs Pole at Pocono After Welcoming Newborn Son

LONG POND, Pa.—Perhaps not too surprisingly, Pocono (Pa.) Raceway’s all-time winningest driver, Denny Hamlin was fastest in the field Saturday to earn pole position for Sunday’s The Great American Getaway 400 (2 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota will take the green flag to start the NASCAR Cup Series race and historically-speaking, no one has led the field to more checkered flags; his seven wins at Pocono are most in history. And he’s finished first or second in five of the last eight races on the 2.5-mile unique three-turn track.

Hamlin’s lap of 172.599 mph was .083-second faster than Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher in the No. 17 Ford. Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar (Chevrolet), Legacy Motor Club’s John Hunter Nemechek (Toyota) and Haas Factory Team’s Cole Custer (Ford) rounded out the top-five in qualifying.

It marks a big return for the season’s three-time race winner Hamlin who is back on the grid after receiving a waiver from NASCAR, missing last weekend’s inaugural race in Mexico City to be home for the birth of his son.

“We typically can step up from practice,” said Hamlin, who was not even among the top-10 fastest drivers in the afternoon’s practice session. “We had good adjustments so never really panicked too much

“And obviously because I was a little more rested than the rest of the field right there, I was able to show a little more speed,” he added with a smile and nod to missing last week’s race.

“Every week we have a good shot to win and this team just knows what I need out of the car. The cars and tires have changed over time, but you still make speed at this track the same way. I was able to execute there in qualifying and that’s a good start for us.”

Of note, the current NASCAR Cup Series championship leader, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron crashed his No. 24 Chevrolet late in the qualifying session. The team had to roll out a back-up car for Sunday’s race so Byron will start from the rear of the field.

Hamlin’s JGR teammates, Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs will start sixth and seventh and Tyler Reddick, who drives the 23XI Racing Toyota co-owned by Hamlin was eighth fastest. JRG’s Christopher Bell will line up ninth on the grid and Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez will roll off 10th. Six of the top-10 cars were Toyotas.

Defending race winner, Ryan Blaney was 20th quickest in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford.

Four drivers did not make qualifying runs, including Reddick’s 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace, whose team rolled his car off the line just before his run. Wood Brothers’ Josh Berry, Rick Ware Racing’s Cody Ware and NY Racing’s Brennan Poole also did not make qualifying laps.


NASCAR Cup Series
Starting Line Up by Row
Pocono Raceway
The Great American Getaway 400 Presented by VISITPA.COM

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 6/21/2025 @ 02:39 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed

Track Race Record: Jeff Gordon  06/12/11 03:26:21 145.384

Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 11 Denny Hamlin Progressive Toyota 52.144 172.599
2 17 Chris Buescher Nexletol Ford 52.227 172.325

Row 2: 3 77 Carson Hocevar Delaware Life Chevrolet 52.379 171.825
4 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 52.390 171.789

Row 3: 5 41 Cole Custer HaasTooling.com Ford 52.436 171.638
6 19 Chase Briscoe Bass Pro Shops Toyota 52.444 171.612

Row 4: 7 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 52.464 171.546
8 45 Tyler Reddick The Beast Toyota 52.500 171.429

Row 5: 9 20 Christopher Bell Rheem Toyota 52.525 171.347
10 99 Daniel Suarez Very Good Ventures Chevrolet 52.631 171.002

Row 6: 11 43 Erik Jones Family Dollar Toyota 52.632 170.999
12 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 52.673 170.866

Row 7: 13 60 Ryan Preece Kroger/Scott 1000 Ford 52.727 170.691
14 6 Brad Keselowski BuildSubmarines.com Ford 52.781 170.516

Row 8: 15 38 Zane Smith Long John Silver's Ford 52.803 170.445
16 3 Austin Dillon Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet 52.811 170.419

Row 9: 17 4 Noah Gragson MillerTech Ford 52.813 170.413
18 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 52.820 170.390

Row 10: 19 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Tarkett Ford 52.836 170.338
20 12 Ryan Blaney Wabash Ford 52.837 170.335

Row 11: 21 1 Ross Chastain Busch Light Apple Chevrolet 52.861 170.258
22 7 Justin Haley Dorman Chevrolet 52.927 170.046

Row 12: 23 88 Shane Van Gisbergen # Safety Culture Chevrolet 52.962 169.933
24 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 52.966 169.920

Row 13: 25 48 Alex Bowman Ally Best Friends Chevrolet 52.978 169.882
26 8 Kyle Busch zone/GetGo Chevrolet 53.095 169.507

Row 14: 27 10 Ty Dillon Sea Best Chevrolet 53.107 169.469
28 71 Michael McDowell Gainbridge Chevrolet 53.140 169.364

Row 15: 29 35 Riley Herbst # Monster Energy Zero Sugar Toyota 53.159 169.303
30 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Martin's Famous Potato Rolls Chevrolet 53.661 167.720

Row 16: 31 24 William Byron Valvoline Chevrolet 57.645 156.128
32 34 Todd Gilliland Grillo's Pickles Ford 59.181 152.076

Row 17: 33 16 AJ Allmendinger Celsius Chevrolet 64.077 140.456
34 23 Bubba Wallace McDonald's Toyota 0.000 0.000

Row 18: 35 21 Josh Berry Eero Ford 0.000 0.000
36 51 Cody Ware Parts Plus Ford 0.000 0.000

Row 19: 37 44 Brennan Poole(i) Members 1st Credit Union Chevrolet 0.000 0.000

Did Not Qualify: None.

Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 16 0 Ford 12 0
Toyota 9 0

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series