At a time when it feels like Denny Hamlin can do no wrong, the future NASCAR Hall of Famer just continues to keep his foot to the floorboard. On Saturday afternoon, Hamlin turned the fastest lap in qualifying for Sunday’s The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway, and will start from the pole position as a result.
Starting Lineup: The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono
For Hamlin, this will be his third consecutive P1 start, as he won the pole last weekend at Michigan and Mother Nature awarded him the pole in Nashville two weeks ago. Hamlin didn’t look to have pole-winning speed in Saturday’s practice session, but the veteran racer credited his team, led by crew chief Chris Gayle, for making changes to his car between the sessions.
“This whole team just did a great job with adjustments, making it a little better from practice,” Hamlin explained. “I didn’t execute a very good lap there in Turn 2, but overall, I thought I hit [Turns] 3 and 1 pretty decent. But just good enough.”
Hamlin, who comes into this race on a two-race winning streak, will now look to extend the winning streak to three at Pocono, a track where he has won seven times previously. Three wins in a row is a feat Hamlin has never accomplished before.
Hamlin’s confidence is soaring heading into Sunday’s race.
“It’s certainly gone well. Confidence is up with these guys that every time I enter a corner at about 200 (miles per hour), they’ve built me a car that’s going to stick.”
Kyle Larson, who came up 0.055 seconds shy of a pole position on Saturday, will start from the outside of the front row alongside Hamlin. The defending series champion is looking to snap a frustrating 39-race losing streak, which spans back to last May’s event at Kansas Speedway.
While Larson’s day didn’t start off ideally, as his No. 5 car failed pre-race inspection twice, which led to a loss of pit selection and the ejection of his car chief, Jesse Saunders, was able to rally for a great starting spot — and nearly got a pole.
Daniel Suarez, who took a win in the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600, continued his career resurgence season with a third-place qualifying effort on Saturday afternoon at the 2.5-mile triangular track, and he’ll be joined in the second row by Ty Gibbs, the driver of the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Chase Briscoe, who won this race a season ago, will start from the fifth position, while Chris Buescher, Erik Jones, John Hunter Nemechek, William Byron, and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top-10 qualifiers for Sunday’s The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono.
Christopher Bell, who is competing with a fractured left wrist that he sustained in a hard crash last weekend at Michigan International Speedway, qualified 22nd for Sunday’s race. In a media availability on Saturday, Bell stated that he intends to compete in the full 400 miles on Sunday, but his team will have Brandon Jones on standby if needed.
Carson Hocevar looked like he had a potential pole-winning run going during his qualifying lap, however, he got out of the groove and into the wall, and would secure a disappointing 26th-place starting spot.
Brad Keselowski experienced a mechanical issue, which limited the power of his No. 6 RFK Racing Ford during his qualifying run. As a result, Keselowski could only muster a time fast enough for the 37th starting spot.
Bubba Wallace will start dead-last in the field of Sunday’s race after he crashed his No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota during his qualifying run, which made him unable to complete a timed qualifying lap.
The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway is set for Sunday, June 14, and due to the forecast of potential late afternoon showers, NASCAR has moved the start time of the race up by a couple of hours. Sunday’s race is now scheduled for 1 PM ET, and will be televised on Prime Video.
