LONG POND — In 2006, Denny Hamlin showed up at Pocono Raceway for the first time and swept the pole and the checkered flag in both races.
Twenty years later, Hamlin still gets it done at Pocono.
The veteran driver captured the pole for The Great American Getaway 400 Presented by VISITPA on Saturday. Hamlin drove his No. 11 Toyota around the 2.5-mile triangular track in 54.686 seconds at 164.576 mph.
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“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 is his fourth pole of the season and sixth at Pocono, which breaks a tie with Ken Schrader and Bill Elliott for most at the track. Hamlin already is the track’s leader in wins with seven.
Also, it is the 51st pole of Hamlin’s career, tying him for ninth place in NASCAR history with Ryan Newman.
“He just was able to execute one lap just so much better than everyone else,” Hamlin said. “You look at him and he had a fast car, but he also did an incredible job of getting back to the gas quicker than everybody else, hitting his marks, just, he was the guy. I mean, they called him Rocket for a reason.
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“To tie, I don’t know, I don’t feel like it’s been that many. I trust the stats, but in my heart, I don’t feel like that is something that I did. But over the course of 20 years, they can slip by you. You’ll forget some that happened. So, it’s cool. It’s certainly something I’ll look back on years from now when I got a lot of time on my hands.”
Kyle Larson qualified second at 173.067 mph in the No. 5 Chevrolet. Daniel Suarez was third at 172.881 mph in the No. 7 Chevrolet. Ty Gibbs was fourth at 172.771 mph in the No. 54 Toyota and defending race champion Chase Briscoe was fifth at 172.639 mph in the No. 19 Toyota.
Hamlin is on a roll right now. He won the last two races at Nashville and Michigan from the pole.
Sunday’s race was scheduled for 3 p.m. However, with inclement weather in the forecast later in the day, the start time was moved up to 1 p.m.
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Moving up the start time could affect the race, Hamiln said.
“Generally speaking when weather rolls in, you usually have good sun for a while, and then the clouds come in before the rain,” Hamlin said. “So what that means is that if you’re going to get your passing done, you have to do it in the first half of the race because that’s when the track is going to be the hottest, the sun will be out the most. Then as it clouds up, the track will get faster, passing will be certainly more difficult because of the evolution of a normal race anyway. The field tightens in the last stage because everyone tunes their car in, and then you add cloud cover and cooler conditions. It just is going to make the field even tighter yet, so you better have your strategy done.”
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