There’s just no stopping the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Denny Hamlin right now, who snagged pole position for this weekend’s NASCAR Cup race at Pocono Raceway. He was the only driver to break into the 51-second bracket with a fast lap of 51.948s.
This is Hamlin’s 51st career pole and his sixth at Pocono. He will be joined on the front row by Kyle Larson in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, who fell 0.055s short of P1.
“(Because of) the sun, the track heated up so much from the middle of the session to the end,” said Hamlin after his run. “We just didn’t have the clouds, but certainly had the grip. This whole team 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) 3 and 1 pretty decent. Just good enough.”
Daniel Suarez will start third, Ty Gibbs fourth, and Chase Briscoe fifth. Chris Buescher led the way for Ford in sixth, Erik Jones seventh, and John Hunter Nemechek eighth, William Byron ninth, and Ryan Blaney tenth.
Championship leader Tyler Reddick has seen his once-mighty lead over Hamlin fall from +129pts to just +51pts in just three races, and he will start 16th.
Driving with a fractured left wrist after a 63G crash at Michigan, Christopher Bell will start 22nd.
Watch: Nothing stops Hamlin: Denny takes Pocono pole
Qualifying recap
In the first half of qualifying, the RFK Racing cars had some trouble. Brad Keselowski believed he was down a cylinder and took the No. 6 to the garage, while teammate Ryan Preece was unusually slow in the No. 60 car, far off the pace. Things went better for Buescher later in the session.
Some fast drivers went out early due to the carnage at Michigan, but Reddick, Bell, and Elliott were all slower than expected. It was actually Bowman who set the pace in the No. 48, just ahead of McDowelll.
As the second half of qualifying got underway, the first car out immediately toppled Bowman’s No. 48 HMS Chevy, and that was Gibbs in the No. 54 JGR Toyota.
His 52.092s held until Suarez bested him with a very impressive run. Suarez’s teammate Carson Hocevar looked strong as well, but had a big slide in Turn 1. However, he lost control at the exit of the Tunnel Turn, catching the outside wall before straightening it out.
Bubba Wallace was the very next car on track, spinning in the same spot, and slamming the inside wall nose-first. Both will start from the rear of the field.
Watch: Hocevar, Wallace find trouble in Pocono qualifying
There was a slight delay as they cleaned up the track, and Larson’s run was interrupted by the yellow. NASCAR allowed Hendrick to change tires on Larson’s No. 5 car.
Once the session resumed, Hamlin bested Suarez by a full tenth, and Larson also bumped Suarez off the front row.
NASCAR Cup starting lineup at Pocono
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