Pocono has become a strong spot for No. 11 driver
Denny Hamlin got his first pole in just his sixth career Cup race, but the second pole was even better, as it came packaged with a trip to Victory Lane.
In 2006, the eventual Sunoco Rookie of the Year started out as an all-or-nothing qualifier, with eight top-10 starting positions but three 30th-or-worse qualifying efforts through the first 13 races of his rookie season.
At Pocono, the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Chevrolet found plenty of qualifying speed, putting Hamlin on the pole for the Pocono 500 on June 11. And that’s where Hamlin finished, too. But it wasn’t one of those green-to-checkered dominating performances.
Hamlin took off at the start, maybe even faster in race trim than qualifying trim, putting a 6-second lead on the field and leading 49 of the the 50 laps. But he had a tire go down and spun. Hamlin saved the spin, but the deflated tire did some damage to the rear fender. However, the Virginia native rebounded in a big way.
Hamlin wound up leading 83 of the race’s 200 laps and made his first trip to Cup Series Victory Lane at the Long Pond, Pennsylvania track where he would repeat as pole and race winner six races later.
That second trip to Pocono was a little less exciting for Hamlin as it was one of those pure domination events. He cruised to the win, leading 151 or 200 laps. In that outing it was teammate Tony Stewart who made headlines when he gave Clint Bowyer’s No. 07 more than a little bump, causing it to careen into Carl Edwards’ No. 99.
Hamlin enters the Axalta ‘We Paint Winners’ 400 race with four wins, nine top fives and 12 top 10s in 18 starts. He looks good to make a run at his fifth victory there after a weekend at Dover that saw him take the pole and top the speed charts in the final two practices before a wreck-marred 21st-place finish.