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June 14, 2026
By Holly Cain NASCAR Wire Service
Photo: Teddy Batkin/Myracenews
Quite simply, Pocono Raceway’s best was best once again.
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin hoisted his record eighth NASCAR Cup Series trophy at the iconic 2.5-mile Pocono track in Sunday’s The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VISITPA – his No. 11 JGR Toyota holding off the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota of Tyler Reddick by 1.678-seconds in a dramatic fuel-saving dance to the checkered flag.
The victory marks the first-time in his 21-year fulltime career Hamlin’s won three consecutive races – at Nashville, Michigan and now Pocono. It’s sure been a productive summer for the 45-year-old Virginian who now has 64 series wins – placing him ninth on the sport’s all-time list, breaking a tie with his former teammate, the late two-time series champion Kyle Busch.
“Just so special here,” said a smiling Hamlin of his effort at the iconic Tricky Triangle.
“Just so happy for this whole Joe Gibbs Racing team,” he continued. “This is a team effort. They’ve given me fast cars. The pit crew is flawless right now, we’ve just got it all going.
“I’d say it’s certainly the best we’ve been,” Hamlin said of his team’s current confidence level. “We come to the race track every week knowing that we’ve got a great shot to win. The team is doing an amazing job knowing exactly what I need in the car every week and that’s why we’re winning.”
Now with only 10 races left to set the 16-driver Chase field, Hamlin’s win streak has decisively cut Reddick’s once three-digit lead atop the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings. Reddick is now only 19 points ahead of Hamlin – who along with NBA legend Michael Jordan co-owns Reddick’s team. It’s the smallest margin atop the standings on the year for the five-race winner Reddick.
“It’s a bummer,” conceded Reddick, who rallied from fifth to second place in the closing laps, after concerns of a tire going down on a late race restart.
“We definitely lost time in a couple spots there. Some of it is everyone’s racing hard for track position and some of it is just bad luck, I guess, just where you catch cars.
“We knew qualifying was going to be tricky coming into this and just weren’t able to get stage points – scoring the points we did, just didn’t get the job done.”
Hamlin’s JGR teammate Christopher Bell who gambled with a fuel-saving strategy in the closing laps, was passed by Hamlin with five laps remaining and then ran out of gas just as the field took the white flag. He finished 26th despite his valiant effort on the day, nursing a broken left wrist he suffered in an accident last week at Michigan.
“We were mired back in the 20s so I think it was an amazing call,” Bell said of the gamble, calling the calculated risk “worth it.”
Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron finished third in the No. 24 Chevrolet, followed by Legacy Motor Club’s John Hunter Nemechek – claiming his first top-five finish of the season. His race best 42 laps out front in the No. 42 Toyota Sunday were more laps than he led in either the entire 2024 or 2025 seasons.
Hendrick’s Kyle Larson finished fifth and led laps early. Legacy’s Erik Jones was sixth – his second consecutive top-10 – followed by Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher, Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, JGR’s Ty Gibbs and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney.
Henrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott finished 11th – just missing out on a fifth consecutive Pocono top-10. Hamlin won stage one and Front Row Motorsports’ Todd Gilliland claimed the stage two win – his first career stage victory.
With the regular season winding down, points positions to determine which 16 drivers will race for the championship are close. Trackhouse Racing’s Shane Van Gisbergen is 14th, 10 points to the clear of 17th place Brad Keselowski. Jones and Austin Cindric are ranked 15th and 16th – both only four points to the good. Team Penske’s Joey Logano is behind Keselowski, 21 points out of 16th place.
The NASCAR Cup Series will headline a triple-header weekend in Southern California with next Sunday’s inaugural Anduril 250 (4 p.m. ET on Prime Video, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at the Qualcomm Circuit on Naval Base Coronado.
NASCAR Cup Series Race – Great American Getaway 400 presented by VISITPA
Pocono Raceway
Long Pond, Pennsylvania
Sunday, June 14, 2026
- (1) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 160.
- (16) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 160.
- (9) William Byron, Chevrolet, 160.
- (8) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 160.
- (2) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 160.
- (7) Erik Jones, Toyota, 160.
- (6) Chris Buescher, Ford, 160.
- (24) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 160.
- (4) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 160.
- (10) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 160.
- (23) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 160.
- (5) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 160.
- (3) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 160.
- (17) Austin Cindric, Ford, 160.
- (21) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 160.
- (25) Riley Herbst, Toyota, 160.
- (13) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 160.
- (14) Austin Hill(i), Chevrolet, 160.
- (29) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 160.
- (26) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 160.
- (38) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 160.
- (19) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 160.
- (28) Connor Zilisch #, Chevrolet, 160.
- (15) Cole Custer, Chevrolet, 160.
- (32) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 160.
- (22) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 160.
- (12) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 160.
- (35) Ryan Preece, Ford, 159.
- (34) Daniel Dye(i), Chevrolet, 159.
- (33) Cody Ware, Chevrolet, 159.
- (31) Shane Van Gisbergen, Chevrolet, 158.
- (27) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 158.
- (20) Josh Berry, Ford, 157.
- (11) Joey Logano, Ford, 156.
- (30) Noah Gragson, Ford, Handling, 107.
- (36) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, Accident, 105.
- (18) Zane Smith, Ford, Handling, 66.
- (37) Brad Keselowski, Ford, Accident, 46.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 135.9 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 56 Mins, 36 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.678 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 23 laps.
Lead Changes: 17 among 11 drivers.
Lap Leaders: K. Larson 1-24;D. Hamlin 25-33;J. Nemechek 34-36;T. Reddick 37-47;J. Nemechek 48-77;E. Jones 78;C. Elliott 79-87;D. Hamlin 88-90;A. Cindric 91;T. Gilliland 92-97;C. Briscoe 98-101;J. Nemechek 102-110;D. Hamlin 111-121;T. Reddick 122-134;R. Blaney 135-137;C. Bell 138-155;D. Hamlin 156-160.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): John Hunter Nemechek 3 times for 42 laps; Denny Hamlin 4 times for 28 laps; Tyler Reddick 2 times for 24 laps; Kyle Larson 1 time for 24 laps; Christopher Bell 1 time for 18 laps; Chase Elliott 1 time for 9 laps; Todd Gilliland 1 time for 6 laps; Chase Briscoe 1 time for 4 laps; Ryan Blaney 1 time for 3 laps; Austin Cindric 1 time for 1 lap; Erik Jones 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 11,5,54,19,17,7,24,43,22,33
Stage #2 Top Ten: 34,19,42,43,47,1,77,7,11,9
