Hamlin Continues Dominant Stretch With NASCAR Cup Pole At Pocono

Denny Hamlin and his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team clearly have it all figured out right now. After another pole-winning run on Saturday at Pocono Raceway, Hamlin is set to be credited with a P1 starting position for the third consecutive race.

Now, the driver who worked himself into the 50 pole/50 win club a weekend ago, will look to snag three consecutive victories in the history of his illustrious NASCAR Cup Series career.

Hamlin secured the 51st pole position of his NASCAR Cup Series career with a 51.948-second (173.250 mph) lap around the 2.5-mile triangular Pocono Raceway, a track where Hamlin boasts seven career victories. Hamlin's lap was able to narrowly defeat Kyle Larson by 0.055 seconds for the Busch Light Pole Award.

After securing the pole, Hamlin credited his team for making his car better after Saturday's practice session.

"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."

While Hamlin hopes to extend his recent stretch of dominance in the NASCAR Cup Series ranks, Larson, the defending series champion, simply wants to put an end to a 39-race winless drought, which stretches back to Kansas Speedway last May.

Larson, sixth in points entering the weekend, finished fourth a weekend ago at Michigan International Speedway.

Daniel Suarez will look to continue his resurgent season with Spire Motorsports from the third starting position, and he'll be joined by Ty Gibbs, who took his first career win at Bristol Motor Speedway earlier this season.

Chase Briscoe, the defending winner of this race, 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 Raceway.

Christopher Bell, who is competing this weekend with a fractured left wrist after a hard impact last weekend at Michigan International Speedway, will start Sunday's race from the 22nd position.

Carson Hocevar had a potential pole-winning run going during the qualifying session, but would slide up the track, and collide with the wall during his timed lap. Hocevar would be credited with a 26th-place qualifying run.

Brad Keselowski suffered from a mechanical issue during his qualifying lap, and will start 37th in the 38-car field as a result.

Bubba Wallace will start the race from the shotgun position after he crashed during his qualifying lap, and was unable to clock in a lap time.

The Great American Getaway 400 Starting Lineup

1. 11 - Denny Hamlin
2. 5 - Kyle Larson
3. 7 - Daniel Suarez
4. 54 - Ty Gibbs
5. 19 - Chase Briscoe
6. 17 - Chris Buescher
7. 43 - Erik Jones
8. 42 - John Hunter Nemechek
9. 24 - William Byron
10. 12 - Ryan Blaney
11. 22 - Joey Logano
12. 48 - Alex Bowman
13. 71 - Michael McDowell
14. 33 - Austin Hill
15. 41 - Cole Custer
16. 45 - Tyler Reddick
17. 2 - Austin Cindric
18. 38 - Zane Smith
19. 16 - A.J. Allmendinger
20. 21 - Josh Berry
21. 47 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
22. 20 - Christopher Bell
23. 9 - Chase Elliott
24. 1 - Ross Chastain
25. 35 - Riley Herbst
26. 77 - Carson Hocevar
27. 10 - Ty Dillon
28. 88 - Connor Zilisch
29. 34 - Todd Gilliland
30. 4 - Noah Gragson
31. 97 - Shane van Gisbergen
32. 3 - Austin Dillon
33. 51 - Cody Ware
34. 78 - Daniel Dye
35. 60 - Ryan Preece
36. 62 - Casey Mears
37. 6 - Brad Keselowski
38. 23 - Bubba Wallace

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