LONG POND — When Denny Hamlin came to Pocono Raceway as a rookie 20 years ago, he knew nothing about the place. So his first time on the track during practice, he followed veteran Mark Martin.
“I thought he was the right guy to follow,” Hamlin said. “I followed him for five laps. Passed him on Lap Six. I think I got this place figured out. From then on we’ve won a lot of races. I’ve just approached the place the same way every time. It’s worked.”
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Worked is an understatement.
Ironically, Martin never won in 54 starts at Pocono, finishing second seven times. Hamlin has a track-record eight victories at the 2.5-mile triangular track after taking the checkered flag Sunday in The Great American Getaway 400 Presented by VISITPA. He passed Christopher Bell — who gambled and tried stretch his fuel mileage the final 51 laps — with five laps remaining and won by 1.678 seconds over Tyler Reddick.
It is the fourth win of the season for Hamlin and third in a row after victories the previous two weeks at Nashville and Michigan in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Seemingly with every race, Hamlin is making history.
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When he won the pole Saturday at Pocono for Sunday’s race, he tied Ryan Newman for ninth on NASCAR’s all-time list. His three consecutive wins all came from the pole, becoming just the fourth driver to accomplish that feat. Richard Petty did it in 1966 and 1967. Bobby Allison did it in 1971 and Darrell Waltrip did it in 1981. The victory was the 64th of his career, breaking a tie for ninth place on NASCAR’s all-time list with the late Kyle Busch.
Also, Sunday’s win was the 19th by Joe Gibbs Racing at Pocono, which is tied with Hendrick Motorsports for most at the track. JGR cars won nine of the last 14 races at Pocono.
Hamlin’s place in history is not important to him right now. Winning is all that matters.
“To me it’s like wins, wins, wins. What is your win percentage?” Hamlin said “That’s what I really, really am trying to continue on a run.
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“I mean, you always have aspirations to win 36 out of 36 races in a given season. You know it’s not going to happen. But we’ve had so many races where we’ve been dominant this year. Yeah, we won four, but man, we could easily have a lot right now. So I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve had a year where it’s been this wild and crazy being able to execute. That’s been the biggest difference. The last month compared to earlier in the season, the speed is no different, it’s just that the execution is better.”
This hot streak comes after probably the lowest point of Hamlin’s life and career. Earlier in the season, Hamlin admitted he wasn’t locked in and it was understandable why.
In last year’s finale at Phoenix in November, he dominated the race, leading 208 laps, and was three laps away from capturing his first championship when a caution came out and sent the race to overtime. Hamlin pitted during the subsequent yellow and took four tires while the other title contenders took two tires. On the restart, Hamlin wasn’t able to catch Kyle Larson, who wound up winning the championship.
Early in December, there was the contentious antitrust lawsuit that 23XI Racing, the team Hamlin co-owns with Michael Jordan, and Front Row Motorsports brought against NASCAR. The highly publicized trial lasted eight days before a settlement was reached.
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Then, his parents’ house was destroyed by fire Dec. 29. His father Dennis died and his mother Mary Lou was seriously injured.
Something Jordan said, though, resonated with him and helped him get through all that.
At the 23XI Racing preseason meeting to discuss expectations and motivate the team, Jordan said he was interested to see what Denny does after everything he had been through.
“I don’t know what brought it up. I can’t remember that part of it. I almost saw it as a challenge at that point,” Hamlin said “It’s not like you won a championship in his first year. He went through the failure, then, boom, he bounced back, right?
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“I think just like everything else, if it’s boos or it’s trolls on social media, that’s fuel for me. They don’t know they’re just fueling me. If you’re rooting against me, you’re not doing it the right way. At that point when he said he was interested to see what happens, I considered that a challenge at that point.
“He’s finding out.”
As Hamlin put it, there’s a lot of positive juju going on right now. His confidence on the track is sky high and off the track, his mom moved into her new house last week.
All that remains for Hamlin is to see if he can finally win that elusive championship. The window of opportunity might be closing. When he signed a two-year contract extension last year, he said it likely would be his last and that he would retire after the 2027 season.
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Car owner Heather Gibbs said they are trying to figure out how to keep him longer.
“I think for Denny, he wants to leave on top,” Gibbs said. “He doesn’t want to leave where it was one year too long.
“At this rate, what he’s producing out there, it’s not something you would not consider. We want the best drivers in our cars. Our teams work to put the best cars on track. If it works out and he’s still producing and he wants to, it’s a huge commitment for him, he’s got his own team that he kind of wants to run. It’s hard when you dangle checkered flags in front of him, too.”
Hamlin’s win capped another successful NASCAR weekend at Pocono. It started Friday with Gio Ruggiero winning the ARCA Menards Series Sunset Hill Shooting Range 150. On Saturday, in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series MillerTech Battery 250, Justin Allgaier notched his fifth win of the season, but his first in 11 series starts at the track. Sunday’s race was a sellout for the fourth consecutive year.
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Pocono hosted two Cup Series races per season from 1982 to 2021. Hamlin wishes the track would host two again.
“I think the place has earned it,” he said. “Sold-out grandstands four years in a row. I come here Saturday morning, the infield, there’s a line going in. It’s packed. This place has just absolutely mastered the fan experience. It’s a testament to the staff here, ownership here, just doing a phenomenal job of treating the fans the right way. That’s why they’re coming out.
“Wish we got to race here more. I’m selfish. It’s more for on-track reasons. We do have so much success here.”
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