Denny Hamlin has now won three consecutive NASCAR Cup Series events for the first time in his career. His latest victorious feat occurred on Sunday, June 14, in the Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.
The three-time Daytona 500 champion from Chesterfield, Virginia, led four times for 28 of 160-scheduled laps in an event where he qualified on pole position but lost the lead to Kyle Larson before the opening lap. Hamlin rallied by overtaking Larson to lead for the first time on Lap 25 and claim the first stage victory before he endured an event mired with various pit strategies and having to navigate his way back to the front.
After assuming the lead from John Hunter Nemechek at the start of the final stage period with 59 laps remaining, Hamlin made his final pit stop under green flag conditions with 38 laps remaining. As the laps dwindled and with nearly the entire field having made a pit stop before the event’s conclusion, Hamlin spent the event’s remainder reeling in teammate Christopher Bell as Bell, who pitted during an early caution at the start of the final stage period, was trying to stretch his fuel tank to the distance. Bell’s strategy backfired as Hamlin overtook Bell uncontested for the lead with five laps remaining. From there, Hamlin cruised to his third consecutive Cup victory in recent weeks and his unprecedented eighth at the Tricky Triangle circuit.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, June 13, Denny Hamlin notched his third Cup pole position of the 2026 season with a pole-winning lap at 173.250 mph in 51.948 seconds. Hamlin shared the front row with Kyle Larson, the latter of whom qualified with the second-fastest lap at 173.067 mph in 52.003 seconds.
Before the event, the following names, including Brad Keselowski, Ryan Preece and Bubba Wallace, dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments that were made to their respective entries. In addition, the event started two hours early at 1 p.m. ET due to a threat of rain.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson dueled dead even in front of two stacked lanes through the frontstretch and the first turn. As the field fanned out entering Long Pond Straightaway, Larson used the inside lane through the Tunnel Turn to motor his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry in front of Hamlin. Daniel Suarez then used the outside lane to challenge and overtake Hamlin for the runner-up spot in Turn 3 as Larson led the first lap.
Over the next four laps, Larson stretched his early advantage to more than a second over Hamlin as Hamlin, who overtook Suarez for the runner-up spot, was half a second ahead of third-place Suarez. Behind, Chase Briscoe occupied fourth place in front of Ty Gibbs while Chris Buescher, William Byron, Erik Jones, John Hunter Nemechek and Ryan Blaney were racing in the top 10 ahead of Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Zane Smith, Joey Logano and Austin Cindric, respectively. As the top-15 competitors were separated by nearly 11 seconds from one another, Larson maintained the lead by more than a second over Hamlin at the Lap 10 mark while Suarez trailed by more than two seconds.
Through the Lap 15 mark, Larson stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Hamlin while Suarez, Gibbs, Briscoe, Buescher, Byron, Jones, Nemechek and Blaney were racing in the top 10 ahead of Reddick, Zane Smith, Cindric, Bowman, Logano, Austin Hill, Carson Hocevar, AJ Allmendinger, Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., respectively. Behind, Cole Custer, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain and Riley Herbst were mired in the top 25 ahead of Josh Berry, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, Bubba Wallace and Shane van Gisbergen while Brad Keselowski, Ryan Preece, Todd Gilliland, Noah Gragson, Connor Zilisch, Cody Ware, Daniel Dye and Casey Mears followed suit in the 38-car field, respectively.
At the Lap 20 mark, Larson had his advantage decrease to six-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Gibbs was up into third place as he trailed by more than five seconds. Hamlin continued to reel in Larson over the next four laps before Hamlin dueled and led his first lap of the event on Lap 25. Hamlin’s move for the lead occurred as Casey Mears got in front of Larson entering the frontstretch. As Hamlin led the next lap, Bowman made a strategic pit stop under green on the previous lap, while Zane Smith and Reddick pitted on the following lap. Nemechek, Blaney and Cindric pitted on Lap 27 while Hamlin extended his lead to one-and-a-half seconds over Larson by Lap 28.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 30, Hamlin notched his fifth Cup stage victory of the 2026 season. Larson settled in second place by two-and-a-half seconds while Gibbs, Briscoe, Buescher, Suarez, Byron, Jones, Logano and Austin Hill were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, all of one of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.
Under the first stage break period, Larson led a majority of the field to pit road for service while the rest, which included Nemechek, Reddick, Zane Smith, Blaney, Cindric and Bowman, all of whom pitted before the first stage’s conclusion, remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Hamlin exited pit road first ahead of Larson, Briscoe, Byron and Suarez.
The second stage period started on Lap 36 as Nemechek and Reddick occupied the front row. At the start, the two leaders dueled through the frontstretch and the first turn as the field fanned out to multiple lanes. Both remained side-by-side when they cycled back to the frontstretch as Reddick led the next lap. Reddick remained dead even with Nemechek over the next two laps before he used the outside lane in Turn 3 to clear Nemechek and lead the Lap 40 mark. As Reddick led by three-tenths of a second, Blaney and Zane Smith followed suit in third and fourth, respectively, while Hamlin used his four fresh tires to weave back to the top-five mark.
Then on Lap 40, the caution flew when Zane Smith, who was racing beneath Hamlin for third place, snapped sideways through the first turn and spun his No. 38 Long John Silver’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry down the track before he then hit the inside wall and was knocked out of contention. During this caution period, some, including Logano, McDowell, Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon, Custer, Preece, Gilliland, Keselowski, Daniel Dye and Ty Dillon, pitted while the rest, led by Reddick, remained on the track.
The next restart on Lap 44 featured Reddick receiving a push from co-owner Hamlin to motor ahead of Nemechek and lead the field entering the first turn. Reddick led the next two laps over Nemechek, Hamlin, Byron and Blaney before the caution returned for a multi-car wreck that erupted entering the frontstretch. The trouble started when Austin Hill, who was racing in a tight three-wide situation with Shane van Gisbergen and Josh Berry within the top-20 mark, made slight contact with van Gisbergen. The contact resulted in van Gisbergen and Berry not having enough room, with Berry bouncing off the frontstretch’s outside wall and van Gisbergen getting turned. The incident sparked a multi-car wreck involving Noah Gragson, Brad Keselowski, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace and Connor Zilisch.
During the latest caution period, the leader, Reddick, along with Hamlin, Byron, Elliott, Larson, Herbst, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Bell, Blaney, Buescher, Austin Cindric, Alex Bowman, Gibbs and those involved in the carnage pitted while the rest, led by Nemechek, Briscoe and Jones, remained on the track.
As the event restarted under green on Lap 52, Nemechek motored his No. 42 Pye-Barker Toyota Camry XSE entry ahead of teammate Jones and Briscoe entering the first turn, and he led the next lap while the field behind fanned out and jostled for spots. Nemechek proceeded to lead the Lap 55 mark before he extended his lead to nine-tenths of a second over Briscoe on the Lap 60 mark, all while Jones, Hocevar, Chastain, Suarez, Elliott, McDowell, Hamlin and Reddick trailed in the top 10, respectively.
By Lap 70, Nemechek, who has maintained the lead since the Lap 52 mark, continued to lead by four-tenths of a second over Briscoe while Jones continued to race in third. By then, the top-three competitors were more than four seconds ahead of fourth-place Hocevar while fifth-place Elliott trailed by six seconds and Hamlin was up into seventh place ahead of Chastain and Suarez.
On Lap 75, pit strategies ensued as Suarez and Chastain pitted under green. Briscoe then pitted from the runner-up spot along with Hocevar and Bowman before Nemechek surrendered the lead to pit on Lap 78. Jones, who assumed the lead for a lap, pitted a lap later as Elliott cycled to the lead in front of Hamlin. At the event’s halfway mark on Lap 80, 31 of 38 competitors were scored on the lead lap as Elliott led Hamlin, Byron, Reddick, McDowell, Preece, Larson, Custer, Blaney and Gibbs in the top 10, respectively. Behind, Cindric, Buescher, Hill, Bell, Herbst, Stenhouse, Gilliland, Wallace, Cody Ware and Dye occupied the top-20 spots while Briscoe, Jones, Nemechek, Chastain and Suarez were mired back in the top-25 mark, respectively, following their green flag pit stops. In addition, Hocevar and Bowman were scored in 28th and 30th.
Then on Lap 89, Larson and Hill pitted under green. By then, Preece pitted a lap prior before the top-four competitors that included Hamlin, Elliott, Byron and Reddick, along with Buescher, pitted on Lap 90. Blaney, Gibbs, Herbst, Bell, Cindric and Wallace all pitted during the next three laps just before pit road became inaccessible for the field as the second stage period was nearing its conclusion. By then, Todd Gilliland cycled his No. 34 Love’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry to the lead as he was more than two seconds ahead of Briscoe and Nemechek.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 95, Gilliland captured his first Cup career stage victory as he beat Briscoe to the start/finish line by more than a second. Briscoe settled in second ahead of Nemechek, Jones and Stenhouse while Chastain, Hocevar, Suarez, Hamlin and Elliott were scored in the top 10, respectively. During the second-stage break period, some, led by Gilliland and including Stenhouse, Chastain, Hocevar, Bowman, Austin Dillon, and AJ Allmendinger, pitted while the rest, led by Briscoe, Nemechek, and Jones, remained on the track.
With 59 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Briscoe and Nemechek occupied the front row. At the start, Briscoe, who started on the outside lane, went deep into the first turn. This allowed Nemechek, Hamlin and Jones to overtake Briscoe as Nemechek cycled back to the lead and led the first lap in front of the field that was jostling for spots. Nemechek continued to lead the next three laps before the caution flew as Casey Mears had a right-front wheel that detached in the second turn. During this caution period, some, including Suarez, Austin Dillon, Bell, Gilliland, Daniel Dye, Bowman, and Allmendinger, pitted while the rest, led by Nemechek, remained on the track.
The next restart with 50 laps remaining featured Hamlin duking against Nemechek through the frontstretch before the former used the inside lane to motor ahead through the first turn. As Hamlin led the next lap, he then proceeded to lead by nearly two seconds over Nemechek with 45 laps remaining. Three laps later, a trio of front-runners that included Briscoe, Jones and Buescher strategically pitted under green. Nemechek then pitted a lap later from the runner-up spot along with Preece and Austin Dillon before Elliott, Byron, Larson and Bowman, along with Cindric and Hill, pitted during the next lap, all while Hamlin continued to lead by more than seven seconds ahead of Reddick.
Then with 38 laps remaining, Hamlin surrendered the lead to pit under green. By then, Herbst and McDowell pitted, and Hamlin blended back on the track towards the top-15 mark while Reddick was leading. As Reddick continued to lead with 30 laps remaining, Chastain trailed in the runner-up spot by four seconds while Blaney, Gibbs and Suarez were scored in the top five ahead of Bell, Allmendinger, Cody Ware, Hamlin and Dye, with Hamlin trailing by 25 seconds. Meanwhile, Nemechek was strapped in 14th place behind Byron, teammate Jones was mired in 17th place behind Larson and Elliott, and Briscoe was racing in 19th place in front of Cindric.
With 25 laps remaining, Reddick surrendered the lead to pit under green along with Chastain and Cody Ware as Blaney cycled to the lead. Gibbs pitted from the runner-up spot a lap later before the leader, Blaney, and Suarez pitted with 23 laps remaining. By then, nearly the entire field made a pit stop as Bell, who is trying to stretch his fuel tank to the distance, cycled his No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE entry to the lead. Bell’s lead stood at more than 10 seconds over teammate Hamlin with 20 laps remaining while Byron, Nemechek, Larson, Jones, Buescher, Elliott, Reddick and Chastain were scored in the top 10, respectively.
Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Bell continued to lead by eight seconds over Hamlin while third-place Byron was only six-tenths of a second behind Hamlin. Meanwhile, Nemechek trailed the lead by 11 seconds in fourth place while Larson, Reddick, Jones, Buescher, Elliott and Chastain occupied the top-10 spots over Gibbs, Briscoe, Blaney, Cindric and Suarez, respectively. Despite losing four seconds of his lead over the next five laps, Bell retained the lead by more than four seconds over Hamlin as Hamlin was more than a second ahead of Byron.
Then with five laps remaining, Hamlin zipped past Bell and assumed the lead. As Hamlin stretched his advantage to more than two seconds over the following two laps, Byron and Reddick overtook Bell as Reddick started to challenge Byron for the runner-up spot.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hamlin remained in the lead by more than two seconds over Reddick as Reddick overtook Byron for the runner-up spot while Bell pitted after he ran out of fuel. With a stable advantage in his favor, Hamlin smoothly navigated his No. 11 King’s Hawaiian Shake ‘Em Bites Toyota Camry XSE entry around the Tricky Triangle circuit for a final time before he cycled back to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag by more than a second over Reddick.
With the victory, Hamlin achieved his first-ever three-consecutive winning streak in a Cup season as he was coming off back-to-back victories at Nashville Superspeedway and Michigan International Speedway, respectively. The latest competitor to achieve the three-peat was Hamlin’s 23XI Racing competitor, Tyler Reddick, who won the first three events of the 2026 season.
By winning at Pocono, Hamlin notched his 64th NASCAR Cup Series career victory, which moved him into sole possession of ninth place on the all-time wins list and surpassed his late teammate, Kyle Busch. He also notched his series-leading eighth victory at Pocono, his fourth of the 2026 season and his first with his sponsor, King’s Hawaiian. Hamlin also recorded the 10th Cup victory of this season for Toyota and the fifth for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Hamlin’s eighth Cup Pocono victory this season occurred three days after the 20th anniversary of when he achieved his first Cup career win at Pocono (2006). Already elated with his team’s performance, Hamlin continues his recent hot summer stretch to reel in Tyler Reddick for the regular-season points lead and maintain his on-track momentum en route to his first elusive Cup Series championship when the Chase commences in early September.
“Finally, the King’s Hawaiian curse is over,” Hamlin said on the frontstretch on Prime Video. “I’m just so happy for this whole Joe Gibbs Racing team. This is a team effort. Giving me the fast cars. The pit crew is flawless right now. We just got it all going. [This year’s] certainly the best we’ve been. We come to the racetrack every week, knowing that we got a great shot to win. The team’s just doing an amazing job giving me exactly what I need in the car every single week. That’s why we’re winning.”
Tyler Reddick, who led 24 laps compared to Hamlin’s 28, outdueled William Byron to settle in the runner-up spot for his 10th top-five result of the 2026 season while Byron notched his third top-five result this season. Both competitors expressed mixed emotions over their top-three results, with Byron primarily satisfied with his highest on-track result thus far while Reddick was miffed in having his regular-season points lead trimmed down by co-owner Hamlin’s recent summer hot streak.
“It’s a bummer,” Reddick said. “I mean, if [Hamlin] wasn’t the winner, you could consider this a good day, but 35 points just aren’t enough right now. We knew qualifying was going to be tricky coming into this, and we just weren’t able to get stage points. I know we finished second, but scoring the points, we just didn’t get the job done.”
“I think this is probably the first time in four months that I’ve been able to drive the car this way and just be able to make moves and just have the balance stay with me,” Byron said. “[I] Just really appreciate everybody on our race team. The No. 24 group’s been working really hard and appreciate everyone back at Hendrick Motorsports, too, for working really hard and just trusting our tools and the things we can use. [It was] Just good to get this strong on the ovals. I feel like this is kind of back to what we’re used to, so this is great.”
John Hunter Nemechek, who led a race-high 42 laps, tied his career-best result in a Cup event by finishing in fourth place while Kyle Larson, who led the first 24 laps, settled in fifth place. Erik Jones, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Ty Gibbs and Ryan Blaney completed the top 10 in the final running order. Meanwhile, Christopher Bell, who was in position of achieving his first Cup victory of this season by trying to stretch his fuel tank until he ran out prior to the final lap, ended up in 26th place.
There were 17 lead changes for 11 different leaders. The event featured five cautions for 23 laps. In addition, 27 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 16th event of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, Tyler Reddick continues to lead the regular-season standings by 19 points over Denny Hamlin, 165 over Ryan Blaney, 195 over Chase Elliott and 198 over Ty Gibbs.
Results:
- Denny Hamlin, 28 laps led, Stage 1 winner
- Tyler Reddick, 24 laps led
- William Byron
- John Hunter Nemechek, 42 laps led
- Kyle Larson, 24 laps led
- Erik Jones, one lap led
- Chris Buescher
- Ross Chastain
- Ty Gibbs
- Ryan Blaney, three laps led
- Chase Elliott, nine laps led
- Chase Briscoe, four laps led
- Daniel Suarez
- Austin Cindric, one lap led
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Riley Herbst
- Michael McDowell
- Austin Hill
- Todd Gilliland, six laps led, Stage 2 winner
- Carson Hocevar
- Bubba Wallace
- AJ Allmendinger
- Connor Zilisch
- Cole Custer
- Austin Dillon
- Christopher Bell, 18 laps led
- Alex Bowman
- Ryan Preece, one lap down
- Daniel Dye, one lap down
- Cody Ware, one lap down
- Shane van Gisbergen, two laps down
- Ty Dillon, two laps down
- Josh Berry, three laps down
- Joey Logano, four laps down
- Noah Gragson – OUT, Handling
- Casey Mears – OUT, Accident
- Zane Smith – OUT, Handling
- Brad Keselowski – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ inaugural Anduril 250 on San Diego’s Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, California. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, June 21, and air at 4 p.m. ET on Prime Video, MRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
