LONG POND, Pa. — Denny Hamlin will be chasing his third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victory from the pole on Sunday at Pocono Raceway.
Hamlin claimed pole for the second consecutive week, driving his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to a lap of 51.948 seconds at 173.250 mph on the 2.5-mile triangle-shaped race track.
“I didn’t like the prospects, because the track got so hot,” Hamlin said. “I was kind of watching it throughout qualifying, and there was just a moment there in the middle that there was so much clouds, and the track temp dropped, and then for the last 12 cars, it was all sun, and certainly felt like that was really going to be a tough obstacle to try to get around, but I got through a turn three, good.
“Got to turn one pretty good, and then at that point, I thought, this might be good enough, so I really didn’t do a great job through turn two finishing the lap, because I knew I was on a good lap and didn’t want to mess it up. So overall, just good enough and car had some great speed.”
It was Hamlin’s fourth pole of the season and the 52nd of his career. It will also be the sixth time that Hamlin will start from the pole at Pocono.
Hamlin edged Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson by .055 seconds to earn the top spot.
Daniel Suarez will start third in a Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, while Hamlin’s JGR teammates, Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top five.
Drivers qualifying sixth through 10th were Chris Buescher, Erik Jones, John Hunter Nemechek, William Byron and Ryan Blaney.
