Loop Data Box Score : Pocono Raceway

• Thursday, June 19th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Cup Playoff Race Heats Up as NASCAR Returns to Pocono with 10 to Go

After a thrilling inaugural event in Mexico City last weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series returns stateside with Sunday’s The Great American Getaway 400 at the historic Pocono (Pa.) Raceway.

Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen punched his 2025 Playoff spot with a dominating victory on the Mexico City road course last weekend, the 10th driver to earn a bid by virtue of a win. There are 10 regular season races remaining now to set the 16-driver Playoff field.

Back on the grid this week is Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, who was awarded a championship waiver after missing the Mexico race to be home for the birth of his son. The driver of the No. 11 JGR Toyota is the winningest driver in Pocono Raceway history. Hamlin earned his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory at Pocono in 2006 and his seven wins are the most for the perennial championship contender at any single track on the schedule.

To that end, Hamlin is the only repeat winner in the last eight Pocono races – hoisting a trophy three times in that stretch. His JGR team has won a series best six of the last 10 Pocono races.

As with Hamlin, defending race winner, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney earned his career first victory at Pocono – in 2017.

The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion, who finished 14th at Mexico City, said this summer race line-up, in particular, is enjoyable because of the varying tracks. From inaugural Mexico City road course race, to the 2.5-mile three-turn Pocono track to the Chicago street race and Sonoma, Calif. road course in just the next month.

“It’s a fun part of the schedule where you’re going to very different places each week, and I think teams really enjoy that – at least I enjoy it because it really switches it up and keeps it fresh,” said Blaney, who claimed his first win of the season three weeks ago at the 1.33-mile Nashville oval.

“It can also be frustrating if you’re not very good at those places. You could have a stretch of some bad weeks. Hopefully, we’re not on that boat, but I like this part of the schedule. There’s a lot of different things going on this summer.”

There are eight former Pocono winners in the field. And three of the last five race winners are still looking for their first trophy of the 2025 season – Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman (2021), Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch (2022) and Hendrick’s Chase Elliott (2023).

Elliott – who was declared the 2023 race winner when first and second place drivers Hamlin and Busch were disqualified following post-race inspection – leads all drivers in points earned at Pocono in the Next Gen car era.

His teammate, NASCAR Cup Series’ championship leader William Byron boasts the best average finish (9.36) at the track. Defending race winner, Blaney joins four-time Pocono winner Busch as the only other multi-time Pocono winners.

The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champ Elliott is coming off his best finish (third place at Mexico City) of the season – his second top-10 in the last six races. Bowman turned in a stellar fourth-place showing in Mexico City.

Busch was involved in an early race accident and finished last in the 37-car field in Mexico. The two-time series champion has only a single top-10 – eighth at Michigan – in the last eight races. But. … he is a four-time winner at Pocono – a win tally second only to Hamlin’s among this weekend’s field of drivers. From 2016-21 he had nine top-10s in 10 races, including four wins and a runner-up finish. He hasn’t had a top-10, however since his win in 2020.

This is the last of three races to set the seeding for the In Season Tournament that will start with the June 28 night race at Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway.

Practice followed by Busch Light Pole Qualifying starts at 12:30 p.m. ET Saturday. Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain started from pole position last year.

• Saturday, June 21st, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Hamlin Goes Diapers to Domination, Claims Pole at Pocono After Welcoming Son

Perhaps not too surprisingly, Pocono (Pa.) Raceway’s all-time winningest driver, Denny Hamlin was fastest in the field Saturday to earn pole position for Sunday’s The Great American Getaway 400 (2 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota will take the green flag to start the NASCAR Cup Series race and historically-speaking, no one has led the field to more checkered flags; his seven wins at Pocono are most in history. And he’s finished first or second in five of the last eight races on the 2.5-mile unique three-turn track.

Hamlin’s lap of 172.599 mph was .083-second faster than Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher in the No. 17 Ford. Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar (Chevrolet), Legacy Motor Club’s John Hunter Nemechek (Toyota) and Haas Factory Team’s Cole Custer (Ford) rounded out the top-five in qualifying.

It marks a big return for the season’s three-time race winner Hamlin who is back on the grid after receiving a waiver from NASCAR, missing last weekend’s inaugural race in Mexico City to be home for the birth of his son.

“We typically can step up from practice,” said Hamlin, who was not even among the top-10 fastest drivers in the afternoon’s practice session. “We had good adjustments so never really panicked too much

“And obviously because I was a little more rested than the rest of the field right there, I was able to show a little more speed,” he added with a smile and nod to missing last week’s race.

“Every week we have a good shot to win and this team just knows what I need out of the car. The cars and tires have changed over time, but you still make speed at this track the same way. I was able to execute there in qualifying and that’s a good start for us.”

Of note, the current NASCAR Cup Series championship leader, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron crashed his No. 24 Chevrolet late in the qualifying session. The team had to roll out a back-up car for Sunday’s race so Byron will start from the rear of the field.

Hamlin’s JGR teammates, Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs will start sixth and seventh and Tyler Reddick, who drives the 23XI Racing Toyota co-owned by Hamlin was eighth fastest. JRG’s Christopher Bell will line up ninth on the grid and Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez will roll off 10th. Six of the top-10 cars were Toyotas.

Defending race winner, Ryan Blaney was 20th quickest in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford.

Four drivers did not make qualifying runs, including Reddick’s 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace, whose team rolled his car off the line just before his run. Wood Brothers’ Josh Berry, Rick Ware Racing’s Cody Ware and NY Racing’s Brennan Poole also did not make qualifying laps.

• Pocono Raceway
• The Great American Getaway 400 Presented by VISITPACOM
• Busch Pole Award Pole Winner: Denny Hamlin
• Age: 44
• Team : No 11 - Progressive Toyota
• Owner: Joe Gibbs
• Crew Chief: Chris Gayle
• Denny Hamlin won the Pole Award for the The Great American Getaway 400 Presented by VISITPACOM with a lap of 52144 seconds, 172599 mph
• This is his 45th pole in 702 NASCAR Cup Series races
• This is his first pole and ninth top-10 start in 2025
• This is his fifth pole in 36 races at Pocono Raceway
• Chris Buescher (second) posted his ninth top-10 start of 2025 and his third in 16 races at Pocono Raceway
• Carson Hocevar (third) posted his first top-10 start at Pocono Raceway It is his fifth in 17 races this season
• Shane Van Gisbergen (23rd) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Sunday, June 22nd, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Briscoe Nails Fuel Strategy, Outduels Hamlin for Breakthrough Cup Win at Pocono

Chase Briscoe has earned a NASCAR Cup Series season-best four pole positions and led laps in eight races in his first season driving the famous No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, and finally – finally – on Sunday afternoon that hard work translated into his first trophy, edging his JGR teammate Denny Hamlin in The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VisitPA.com at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway.

It came down to the suspenseful very final laps, Briscoe having to save as much fuel as possible while maintaining the lead the last 34 laps with Pocono’s all-time winningest driver Hamlin and a two-time Pocono winner, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney directly in his rearview mirror, pushing him lap after lap.

But Briscoe did it – perfectly executing throttle control to maintain the lead and not run his Toyota Camry out of gas – ultimately beating Hamlin across the line by .682-second to formally punch his win-and-in 2025 Playoff ticket. The 30-year-old Indiana-native led a race best 72 of the 160 laps on the day and even had enough fuel for the well-deserved victory celebration.

“There was a lot [of pressure],” a smiling Briscoe conceded. “It was kind of weird. I wasn’t driving hard so it’s not like I was on the ragged edge, but it was just so hard having a guy chasing you, especially the guy that’s the greatest of all time here, to be trying to save fuel and everything else.

“Just an amazing day for our race team,” he continued, “Really the first race we’ve executed all year long.”

Hamlin, a three-time winner this year who is returning to competition after missing last week’s Mexico City race to be home in North Carolina for the birth of his son, showed why he is a seven-time Pocono winner, the track’s all-time best. His runner-up finish marks the 10th time he’s finished first or second at the unique 2.5-mile three-turn Pocono oval. He won in 2023 and now has finished second in the two races since.

“It was definitely going to be difficult,” said Hamlin, who started on pole position, won the opening stage and led 32 laps. “The team did a great job and we were next best in line of our strategy, it just didn’t work out.”

“We’re really strong and not showing up with any weaknesses right now, really proud of the effort we put forth,” he continued. “Just love to get more wins but still overall a good solid day for us, now we move on to the next series of races.”

Blaney, who earned his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory at Pocono in 2017 and answered with a win last year, also had a great strategic day pay off with his third-place finish – especially impressive considering he started from the back of the grid after making adjustments on his car following qualifying. And. … his rally came in a problematic cool-suit that forced him to run more than 100 laps without the device working correctly on the steamy hot summer afternoon.

RFK Racing driver Chris Buescher, who like Blaney earned his first career NASCAR Cup Series win at Pocono (2016), started his No. 17 Ford on the outside of the front row and was among the day’s nine leaders – ultimately finishing fourth. Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott was fifth with back-to-back top-five finishes for the first time this year.

Briscoe’s victory – the third of his career – makes him the 11th driver to earn a position in the 16-driver Playoff field – the sixth different in just the last eight weeks.

“To finally deliver a win is such an awesome feeling. … such a big weight off my shoulders,” Briscoe said. “I’ve been telling my wife the last few weeks, I have to win and so to come here and do, it is a great day.”

Legacy Motor Club’s John Hunter Nemechek finished sixth, followed by Hendrick Motorsport’s Kyle Larson, RFK’s Ryan Preece and RFK owner-driver Brad Keselowski. Team Penske’s Austin Cindric rounded out the top-10.

Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron started from the rear of the field after a qualifying accident, moved forward at one point, but ultimately took a 27th-place finish. He still leads the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings by 54 points over his teammate Larson.

With nine races remaining to set the Playoff field, Hendrick’s Alex Bowman sits in that 16th-place position, 20-points up on Preece for that final points-only transfer position.

The NASCAR Cup Series moves to Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway for Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 - the In Season Bracket Challenge Round 1 race of the $1 million to-win five-race series.

Team Penske’s Joey Logano is the defending race winner. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell won at Atlanta this February.

• Drivers Entered: 37
• Laps Scheduled: 160
• Margin of Victory: 0.682 Seconds
• Time of Race: 3 Hours 4 Minutes 20 Seconds
• Average Speed: 130.199
• Cautions: 7 for 31 laps
• Lead Changes: 11
• Green Flag Passes: 2,902 (22.5 passes per green flag lap)

• Pocono Raceway
• The Great American Getaway 400 Presented by VISITPACOM
• Race Winner: Chase Briscoe
• Age: 30
• Team : No 19 - Bass Pro Shops Toyota
• Owner: Joe Gibbs
• Crew Chief: James Small
• Chase Briscoe won the The Great American Getaway 400 Presented by VISITPACOM, his third victory in 161 Cup Series races
• This is his first victory and eighth top-10 finish in 2025
• This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in six races at Pocono Raceway
• Denny Hamlin (second) posted his 24th top-10 finish in 36 races at Pocono Raceway It is his ninth top-10 finish in 2025
• Ryan Blaney (third) posted his eighth top-10 finish in 16 races at Pocono Raceway
• Shane Van Gisbergen (31st) was the highest finishing rookie
• William Byron leads the point standings by 54 points over Kyle Larson