Denny Hamlin grabs the NASCAR Cup pole at Pocono Raceway
Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images
LONG POND, Pa.—It’s been a recurring theme in the NASCAR Cup Series in recent weeks. Denny Hamlin is out front.
The veteran driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota claimed his fourth Busch Light Pole position of the season Saturday afternoon at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway and will lead the field to green in Sunday’s Great American Getaway 400 presented by VISITPA (1 p.m. ET on Prime Video, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Of note, with poor weather expected later Sunday afternoon, the green flag start time (1 p.m.) has been moved up two hours earlier than its originally scheduled time.
This marks the 51st pole position of Hamlin’s career and comes as the popular veteran is attempting to win three consecutive races for the first time in his celebrated career after victories the last two weeks in Nashville and Michigan.
He was the last driver to take to the track in Saturday’s qualifying session and just nudged Hendrick Motorsports’ driver Kyle Larson from the top position in the final minutes – Hamlin’s lap of 173.250 mph around the 2.5-mile triangular-shaped Pocono track was .057-second quicker than Larson’s best.
“Certainly had the grip, this whole team just did a great job with adjustments, making it a little better from practice, I didn’t execute a very good lap there in Turn 2, but overall I thought I hit [turns] three and one pretty decent – just good enough,” Hamlin said.
He acknowledged he and the team are certainly on a hot streak at the moment with wins in the non-points paying All-Star Race four weeks ago plus the two victories in the last two weeks. The effort has helped Hamlin cut 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick’s 100-plus point advantage over him atop the standings to only 51 points heading into Pocono, a place Hamlin has won a record seven times.
“It’s certainly going well and confidence is up with these guys [on the team] that every time I enter a corner at about 200, I know they’ve built me a car that’s going to stick,” Hamlin said, acknowledging his three-in-a-row opportunity.
“This is the best shot for sure, we’ve got a little work to do on the car overnight to get it to be a race winner, but I feel like we’re in that box where we need to be and we’ll fine tune it from here.”
Starting behind Hamlin and Larson are Daniel Suarez in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet and Hamlin’s JGR teammates Ty Gibbs (No. 54 Toyota) and defending race winner Chase Briscoe (No. 19 Toyota).
Chris Buescher, who won his first career NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono in 2016, qualified sixth – his No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford the first Ford on the grid. Legacy Motor Club teammates Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek will start their Toyotas seventh and eighth. Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron (No. 24 Chevrolet) and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney (No. 12 Ford) – who also earned his first career series win at Pocono in 2017 – round out the top-10 on the grid.
Of note, 23XI Racing’s Reddick will roll of 15th and his teammate, Bubba Wallace, will start from the rear of the field after a qualifying session accident. RFK owner-driver Brad Keselowski had engine trouble in the session and will start alongside Wallace on the last row.
Starting Line Up by Row
Pocono Raceway
Great American Getaway 400 presented by VISITPA
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 6/13/2026 @ 03:06 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 King's Hawaiian Shake 'Em Bites Toyota 51.948 173.250
2 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 52.003 173.067
Row 2: 3 7 Daniel Suarez Freeway Insurance/Roamly Chevrolet 52.059 172.881
4 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 52.092 172.771
Row 3: 5 19 Chase Briscoe Bass Pro Shops Toyota 52.132 172.639
6 17 Chris Buescher BuildSubmarines.com Ford 52.176 172.493
Row 4: 7 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 52.189 172.450
8 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye-Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 52.277 172.160
Row 5: 9 24 William Byron Raptor Chevrolet 52.331 171.982
10 12 Ryan Blaney Wabash Ford 52.366 171.867
Row 6: 11 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 52.467 171.536
12 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 52.484 171.481
Row 7: 13 71 Michael McDowell Delaware Life Chevrolet 52.488 171.468
14 33 Austin Hill(i) zone Jalapeno Lime Chevrolet 52.537 171.308
Row 8: 15 41 Cole Custer Haas/Autodesk Chevrolet 52.567 171.210
16 45 Tyler Reddick SupplyHouse Toyota 52.568 171.207
Row 9: 17 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Ideal Door Garage Doors Ford 52.577 171.178
18 38 Zane Smith Long John Silver's Ford 52.591 171.132
Row 10: 19 16 AJ Allmendinger Celsius Chevrolet 52.604 171.090
20 21 Josh Berry Capgemini Ford 52.627 171.015
Row 11: 21 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Pylon Aviation Chevrolet 52.656 170.921
22 20 Christopher Bell Rheem Toyota 52.724 170.700
Row 12: 23 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 52.728 170.687
24 1 Ross Chastain Busch Light Lime Chevrolet 52.730 170.681
Row 13: 25 35 Riley Herbst Monster Energy Zero Sugar Toyota 52.818 170.396
26 77 Carson Hocevar Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet 52.838 170.332
Row 14: 27 10 Ty Dillon Patriot Mobile Chevrolet 52.859 170.264
28 88 Connor Zilisch # Roto-Rooter Chevrolet 52.949 169.975
Row 15: 29 34 Todd Gilliland Love's Travel Stops Ford 53.052 169.645
30 4 Noah Gragson MillerTech/KOA Ford 53.077 169.565
Row 16: 31 97 Shane Van Gisbergen SuperFile Chevrolet 53.191 169.202
32 3 Austin Dillon BetMGM x Survivor Triple Challenge Chevrolet 53.214 169.128
Row 17: 33 51 Cody Ware Rocket Doctor Chevrolet 53.488 168.262
34 78 Daniel Dye(i) Champion Container Chevrolet 53.642 167.779
Row 18: 35 60 Ryan Preece Trimble Ford 53.721 167.532
36 62 Casey Mears The Gracie Foundation Chevrolet 54.212 166.015
Row 19: 37 6 Brad Keselowski Castrol Ford 71.136 126.518
38 23 Bubba Wallace SHADYRAYS Toyota 0.000 0.000
Did Not Qualify: None.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 19 0 Ford 10 0
Toyota 9 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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