Back With A Vengeance: Hamlin Roars To Pocono Cup Pole

Denny Hamlin celebrates the Busch Light Pole Award at Pocono Raceway. (HHP/Jacy Norgaard photo)

LONG POND, Pa. – Suffice it to say that Denny Hamlin hasn’t missed a step in the NASCAR Cup Series despite missing a race for the birth of his third child one week ago.

Hamlin made a statement in his return to the Cup Series after sitting out the Mexico City international trip, as he grabbed the pole for Joe Gibbs Racing in Saturday afternoon’s Busch Light Pole Qualifying session for the Great American Getaway 400.

Hamlin piloted his No. 11 Progressive Toyota Camry XSE to a time of 52.144 seconds (172.599 mph) en route to his first Cup Series pole of the season and fifth at Pocono Raceway, a track that he has excelled at throughout his career.

It marks Hamlin’s 44th career pole, placing 13th on the all-time list and just one pole behind NASCAR Hall of Famer Buck Baker.

Also notable is the fact that Hamlin became the oldest Cup Series polesitter since Matt Kenseth in 2017, taking top qualifying honors at 44 years, seven months, and three days old.

“We typically can step up our speed from practice; we make good adjustments … so I never really panicked too much, and obviously because I was a little more rested than the field right there, I was able to get a little more speed,” said Hamlin.

“I love this place, but I love all the tracks we go to truthfully. Every week we have a great shot to win, and this team just knows what I need out of the car here,” he added. “The cars and tires have changed over the years, but you still make speed at this track the same way. Thankful we were able to execute there in qualifying and put together a good start for us this weekend.”

Starting to Hamlin’s outside Sunday will be RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher. The second starting position ties Buescher’s best so far this season, as he also started there at Kansas Speedway in May.

Buescher is in need of a good points day at Pocono in order to continue his efforts to stay above the playoff cutline. Including Pocono, 10 races remain before the postseason reset.

Row two features two young talents of the sport in Carson Hocevar and John Hunter Nemechek, who are both outside the playoff bubble and looking to gain some ground come Sunday.

Two-time Pocono Xfinity Series winner Cole Custer starts fifth, with Chase Briscoe alongside after another solid qualifying effort. The Toyotas of Ty Gibbs and Tyler Reddick roll off from row four, with Christopher Bell and Daniel Suarez rounding out the top 10.

Chase Elliott, who won the pole for Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race earlier on, qualified a disappointing 18th. Elliott still managed to be the highest qualifier from Hendrick Motorsports, however, as all four cars faced trouble in qualifying.

Larson also uncharacteristically had a poor effort, starting all the way down in 24th. William Byron crashed on his lap off of turn two, which ended his run and severely damaged his No. 24 Chevrolet.

Several drivers did not set a time at all. Bubba Wallace, Josh Berry, Cody Ware, and Brennan Poole all failed to go out for time trials due to issues or penalties.

They don’t have to worry though, as there were no DNQs for the 17th race of the Cup Series season.

Cup Series action from Pocono airs Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, live on Prime Video, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.