What Happened?
While Christopher Bell tried to save enough gas to finish, Denny Hamlin drove around his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate with just a few laps to go to win The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VISITPA on Sunday afternoon (June 14). It’s Hamlin’s eighth Cup win at Pocono Raceway and the third consecutive win for him and the No. 11 team.
A hard-charging Tyler Reddick ended up in the runner-up position, doing his best to hang on to the points lead. William Byron tied his best finish of the season in third. John Hunter Nemechek led a career-high 42 laps and tied his career-best finish in fourth, and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five.
What Really Happened?
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: this is Hamlin’s year.
Out of all the times I thought I meant it before, I truly mean it now – not just because Hamlin is on a heater, winning three straight for the first time in his career – but because when it comes to winning that elusive championship, it’s now or never.
The question floating around is how could Hamlin walk away at the end of 2027 if he’s still at the top of his game winning races? After winning at Michigan International Speedway just a week ago, Hamlin made it clear that he simply has no idea when the drop-off happens and drivers just don’t have it any more. Hamlin himself hinted that he feels the clock is ticking on his own performance.
Even if that is the case, Hamlin is currently – in the summer of 2026 – as good as he’s ever been. Those two decades of experience are a huge benefit for the No. 11 on a weekly basis. At some point, however, four-and-a-half decades of age will begin to play a role.
Right now, Hamlin is 45 years old with four wins less than halfway through the season. It wouldn’t surprise me if he wins 10 races this year. Let’s compare that to other drivers who retired recently.
In 2020, Kevin Harvick won nine races at age 44. He went winless the following season, won twice in 2022, and again went winless in his final season.
Jeff Gordon hit 90 career wins, taking four victories at 42 years old in his 2014 resurgence. In his final 2015 season, Gordon only won the fall Martinsville race. His Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson became a seven-time champion in 2016 at age 41. After three wins in 2017, Johnson never won again once he turned 42.
The man who surpassed these others is Mark Martin, who won his final five races as a 50-year-old man in 2009.
Each of these drivers were good until they weren’t. Hamlin is absolutely at the top of his game right now, but that could change just as quickly in 2027. The opportunities are few, and Hamlin will only be around so much longer.
That’s why 2026 is the year Hamlin has to get it done, and I think he will.
Toyotas have been the class of the field week after week so far this season, but the Chevrolets are closing the gap. While guys like Larson, Byron, Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott will surely find some speed in the last 10 races, there are no more rounds or resets to keep the field close together. Sure, those guys can get hot. But even at their peak, it’s nearly impossible to match the consistency of Hamlin, especially at the Chase tracks.
Of the 10 tracks in the Chase, Hamlin has won at all of them. He’s won at seven of the tracks just in the Next Gen era. In fact, Hamlin has five wins at four of the Chase tracks since the start of 2025 alone.
No matter how much of a fight the field can put up against Hamlin, it truly will be No. 11 against the world for the remainder of the season.
After the race, Hamlin said he only cares about wins. Whether or not he wins a championship will have little effect on his legacy. But right now in 2026 – at the top of his game and with the Chase format – it’s now or never if Hamlin is to hoist the Bill France Cup.
Who Stood Out?
In the top five, two drivers stood out with speed that could reshape their season. It’s hard to commend an HMS car for running up front, because that’s where most would expect to find them. But for Byron and the No. 24 team, this Pocono race is the most complete they’ve looked as a group since March. Those Chevrolets are making progress, and a third-place finish could be a huge momentum-shifter for Byron.
Last week, Erik Jones had a fantastic run at his home track in Michigan. Nemechek had track position but was taken out in a restart wreck. Both Jones and Nemechek were quick again this week, but this time it was the No. 42 that finished better, and Nemechek earned the result his team earned from speed and strategy.
The road courses are hard to predict, but both Legacy Motor Club cars could be in the mix for the playoffs, with Jones already above the cut line and Nemechek galloping into the picture as a dark horse.
Who Fell Flat?
It’s been a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad June for Brad Keselowski. After all, the Nashville Superspeedway race technically finished early in the morning on June 1.
After the Coca-Cola 600, Keselowski was 11th in the points standings, and RFK Racing as an organization was consistently outdoing Team Penske. Since then, however, Keselowski has crashed out of three races in a row, finishing 34th, 34th and 38th. That’s had a major negative effect on the No. 6 team, which has dropped six positions in the standings, now on the outside looking in.
Right there with Keselowski is his teammate Ryan Preece, who was 13th in the standings at Watkins Glen. Preece finished 28th at Pocono, and it’s the best he’s finished in the past four weeks. The slide for the No. 60 has Preece at 19th in the Cup standings.
Paint Scheme of the Race
Pocono normally feels like a track that lacks new or unique schemes, but that wasn’t the case this weekend. Drivers like Bubba Wallace and Josh Berry brought new sponsors to the track with Shady Rays and Capgemini, and Blaney even brought a Ryan Newman throwback for a special Team Penske anniversary.
In a rare instance, however, this week’s scheme of the week has to go to the race winner. King’s Hawaiian has had a rough go with Hamlin in past races, but the Despicable Me Minions overcame the bad luck while looking good too.
Not only was the car easy to spot with the orange, movie-themed scheme, Hamlin himself had on the same overalls as the Minions as he checked off his three-in-a-row milestone.
What’s Next?
It’s one of the most anticipated moments of the season as NASCAR travels to San Diego for its stars to race around Naval Base Coronado.
The NASCAR Cup Series takes the green flag for the Anduril 250 on Father’s Day, June 21 at 4 p.m. ET for Amazon Prime Video’s final race in 2026.
Caleb began sports writing in 2023 with The Liberty Champion, where he officially covered his first NASCAR race at Richmond in the spring. While there, Caleb met some of the guys from Frontstretch, and he joined the video editing team after graduating from Liberty University with degrees in Strategic Communications and Sports Journalism. Caleb currently work full-time as a Multi-Media Journalist with LEX 18 News in Lexington, Kentucky and contributes to Frontstretch with writing and video editing. He's also behind-the-scenes or on camera for the Happy Hour Podcast, live every Tuesday night at 7:30!
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