TOYOTA RACING – Denny Hamlin
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
LONG POND, Penn. (June 13, 2026) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to the media on Saturday after winning the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series race from Pocono Raceway.
Denny Hamlin has won the pole for the third time this season (Martinsville-1, Michigan); along with also winning the pole for the All-Star Race. This is his third consecutive race starting first as he also started from the pole Nashville Superspeedway on the metric. It is his 51st career pole, and sixth at Pocono (2006-1, 2006-2, 2014, 2022, 2025, 2026).
This is the fifth consecutive race a Toyota driver will start first in the NASCAR Cup Series race – Dover, Charlotte, Nashville, Michigan and Pocono.
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 King’s Hawaiian Shake ‘Em Bites Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Can you talk us through your lap?
“Well, I didn’t like the prospects, because the track got so hot. 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.”
They changed the right-side tire here. Could you tell a difference?
“No, I mean, they’ve done that a lot on the mile-and-a-half and 2 miles, like last week they had a different construction or something as well. No, they’re all, it’s also close. Really big compound changes is the only thing I really can tell the difference.”
Can you explain the pit road timing line changes?
“Well, this was a really wonky pit road. When it came to, like, there were sections where you could run three miles an hour faster, and then there were some sections where you had to be a mile an hour slower than pit road speed. So it seems like when we did a roll, it was way more consistent now. There’s not any games to be played now, which is good that they redid it. I think we’ll see less pit row penalties because of it.”
What conversations have you had with Bubba Wallace during this tough stretch for him?
“I mean, truthfully, not a ton, sometimes the drivers just got to work through it. I’m sure listening to me is the last thing that he wants to do when he’s going through a slump. It’s certainly not ideal. He’s just been a really a kind of in the wrong places at the wrong times. Some of it is if you’re in the middle of the pack you’re going to get involved in some of it, but some of it is, then he’s there because of strategy or something. There’s definitely been a large element of luck that’s been involved in it. If you crash out, you at least want to be the responsible party for it. It always feels worse when you’re part of someone else’s wreck. I didn’t see qualifying. He was two cars in front of me, so I was already buckled in, ready to go. So, I didn’t quite see that. The stuff kind of compounds, right? You just got to put solid weekend together, which he did last week, had a good qualifying opportunity today, and obviously wasn’t able to see it through. So, the opportunity was there, but there were some circumstances and I’ll have to look at it, but as a driver, you go through these stretches; how can you not let it get to you and remain emotionally stable through it? If you can do that, then you’ll come out better.”
Any reflections to tying Ryan Newman on poles?
“Yeah, I mean, it’s interesting. I was telling Kelly (Crandall) earlier that my algorithm feeds me (Ryan) Newman qualifying laps all the time on X. So, like, I see it all the time and I’m a sucker. I’ll sit around for those 15 or 30 seconds wherever it is, and watch it, because it’s, I love the nostalgia of it. I don’t know what they had going on back then. I mean, back then you were able to find advantage, all it took was they find something trick with the body or a chassis or tires and next thing your car could be way, way faster than everyone else’s. But he just was able to execute one lap just so much better than everyone else. So, 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, but it was amazing. It was amazing to see, and it wasn’t always sustainable in the race, but the guy knew how to get speed out of a car. He reminded me of, like, Shane Hmeil, like, back in the old days in the O’Reilly Series, just the guy was just a monster for one lap, and you just couldn’t figure out how or why.”
You’ve tied him now. What does that mean?
“I don’t know. I guess 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, like, they can 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, but it’s awesome that when you were bringing up kind of the 50-50 thing, and then my next thing was like, okay, so who’s 60-60? Like, can I get can I get there? I was like that would eliminate three more guys out of that list. So, maybe (laughter).”
Do you know why you went before Kyle Larson in qualifying?
“My guess is to allow them to cool their car off more. The components and things like that get hot when you go out there and to keep the playing field as level as possible, they let them change the tires and then cool the car back to where it should be. You’ll still have a few components that might be a little hotter. At this racetrack, those components being hotter, actually is maybe a little bit of a benefit, not a hurt, but more than likely, qualifying tires, those things, they match them up just right. It’s all awash, but usually, especially the way that the racetrack was with no clouds and everything I was super sensitive looking at that, so it was the same track for everyone.”
Is there any irony to the guy who ended your last chance at winning three straight is starting next to you?
“No, I did not know that, but I can assure you that, that probably (Kyle) Larson and (Cliff) Daniels would love to do it.”
Will moving up the race time affect the race?
“Yeah, it will be different. So, my guess is – I haven’t looked at exactly the weather for tomorrow. I’ll look at that tonight, but generally speaking when weather rolls in, you usually have good sun for a while, and then the clouds come in before the rain. So, what that means is that the track, 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, and then as it clouds up, 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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