Denny Hamlin and Chris Buescher Lead the Field Into The Great American Getaway 400

Denny Hamlin will lead the NASCAR Cup Series field to green at Pocono Raceway after earning the pole for Sunday’s Great American Getaway 400 Presented by VISITPA.com. Hamlin posted a fast lap of 52.144 seconds at 172.599 mph to secure his first pole of the 2025 season and the 45th of his Cup career.

Chris Buescher will start alongside him in second. The pole is Hamlin’s fifth at Pocono, where he already holds the track record with seven wins.

Denny Hamlin and Other Notable Performances in Saturday’s Cup Series Qualifying at Pocono

After skipping the Mexico City race to stay with his fiancée for the birth of their third child, Hamlin returned strong, and nobody could match the pace of his No. 11 Toyota from Joe Gibbs Racing.

“Obviously, because I was a little more rested than the field right there, I was able to get a little more speed,” Hamlin said with a laugh after qualifying. “Every week, we have a great shot to win, and this team just knows what I need out of the car. And with all the cars and tires and everything that has changed over time, you still make speed at this track the same way.”

There’s just something about @dennyhamlin and @PoconoRaceway. #BuschLightPole pic.twitter.com/UT40j4tC14

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 21, 2025

Buescher’s qualifying lap was just 0.083 seconds off Hamlin’s pace. The RFK Racing driver is no stranger to success at Pocono; His first career Cup Series win came here in 2016. Carson Hocevar qualified third, followed by John Hunter Nemechek in fourth and Cole Custer in fifth.

NASCAR pundit Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports shared the race schedule and starting lineup for both the IndyCar race and the Cup Series race on Sunday, June 22.

Sunday!
ET

INDYCAR
Road America

10:02-FS1-INDYCAR warmup
11:06-FS1-NXT race 20 (55 min)
1:30-FOX-Prerace
1:47-FOX-INDYCAR green 55
NWS: 90s, 0% rain

NASCAR
Pocono

1-Prime-Prerace
2:20-Prime-Cup green, stages 30-65-65, 7 sets, fuel 37-41
NWS: 80s, 10% pic.twitter.com/wgirJbjNZz

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 21, 2025

Rounding out the top ten are Chase Briscoe, Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, and Daniel Suárez. The qualifying session wasn’t smooth for everyone. Four drivers didn’t complete a lap: Brennan Poole’s team failed inspection, Cody Ware crashed during practice, and Josh Berry’s team was fixing a broken rear diffuser.

23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace faced mechanical issues and couldn’t get his car going in the session. William Byron, who led practice, wrecked in the Tunnel Turn late in the session. He lost control and hit the inside wall, forcing major repairs to his car.

The incident ruined teammate Chase Elliott’s lap, but NASCAR gave him another chance on fresh tires. He qualified 18th, the best among all Hendrick Motorsports drivers. Shane van Gisbergen, fresh off his win in Mexico City, matched his best oval qualifying result of the season in 23rd.

Starting Lineup for the Great American Getaway 400

Here is the full starting order for Sunday’s Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway. The race is 160 laps around the 2.5-mile track, with the green flag set to drop at 2:00 p.m. ET.

1. #11 – Denny Hamlin
2. #17 – Chris Buescher
3. #77 – Carson Hocevar
4. #42 – John Hunter Nemechek
5. #41 – Cole Custer
6. #19 – Chase Briscoe
7. #54 – Ty Gibbs
8. #45 – Tyler Reddick
9. #20 – Christopher Bell
10. #99 – Daniel Suarez
11. #43 – Erik Jones
12. #22 – Joey Logano
13. #60 – Ryan Preece
14. #6 – Brad Keselowski
15. #38 – Zane Smith
16. #3 – Austin Dillon
17. #4 – Noah Gragson
18. #9 – Chase Elliott
19. #2 – Austin Cindric
20. #12 – Ryan Blaney
21. #1 – Ross Chastain
22. #7 – Justin Haley
23. #88 – Shane van Gisbergen
24. #5 – Kyle Larson
25. #48 – Alex Bowman
26. #8 – Kyle Busch
27. #10 – Ty Dillon
28. #71 – Michael McDowell
29. #35 – Riley Herbst
30. #47 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
31. #24 – William Byron
32. #34 – Todd Gilliland
33. #16 – A.J. Allmendinger
34. #23 – Bubba Wallace
35. #21 – Josh Berry
36. #51 – Cody Ware
37. #44 – Brennan Poole