Denny Hamlin takes late lead to capture 3rd straight season win, 8th Cup Series win at Pocono

LONG POND — Denny Hamlin adds to the Pocono Raceway legend as he wins the 2026 Great American Getaway 400, his 8th-career win at the Tricky Triangle and third consecutive win of the racing season.

Hamlin was trailing Christopher Bell, who was leading for majority of the final 20 laps. But Bell, who was running dangerously low on gas, ran out in the final few laps and Hamlin passed him to secure the win.

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The 45-year-old proved why Pocono was his track, winning pole position during qualifying, then leading the field after Stage 1. But after finishing 9th in Stage 2, it was a concerted effort to make up that ground in the final stage.

"I gotta go past seven cars, it's not easy to pass here," Hamlin said after the race. "But the crew chief Chris Gayle had faith that we could do it, that we could get the restarts we needed. There were a few key ones that I gained, going from sixth place to second, and then from second to first. From that point on we got control of the race."

Hamlin's win also marks the first time in his career he's won three straight races, and while he doesn't think it'll "go on the résumé," it'll be something he'll certainly remember.

Sunday's Cup Series race was the cleanest of the weekend slate, aside from Zane Smith spinning out on Turn 1 (his day ended after 66 laps) and Casey Mears lost a front wheel early in Stage 3. John H Nemecheck had one of the strongest runs of the day, leading a race-high 42 laps before finishing in fourth place.

More from race weekend: Justin Allgaier wins 5th race of season at O'Reilly Series run at Pocono

2026 Great American Getaway 400 Race Results

NameLaps Finished1. Denny Hamlin1602. Tyler Reddick1603. William Byron1604. John H Nemecheck1605. Kyle Larson1606. Erik Jones1607. Chris Buescher1608. Ross Chastain1609. Ty Gibbs16010. Ryan Blaney16011. Chase Elliot16012. Chase Briscoe16013. Daniel Suárez16014. Austin Cindric16015. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.16016. Rileu Herbst16017. Michael McDowell16018. Austin Hill16019. Todd Gilliland16020. Carson Hocevar16021. Bubba Wallace16022. AJ Allendinger16023. Connor Zilisch16024. Cole Custer16025. Austin Dillon16026. Christopher Bell16027. Alex Bowman16028. Ryan Preece15929. Daniel Dye15930. Cody Ware15931. Shane Van Gisbergen15832. Ty Dillon15833. Josh Berry15734. Joey Logano15635. Noah Gragson10736. Casey Mears10537. Zane Smith6638. Brad Keselowski46

This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: Denny Hamlin wins 8th Cup Series race at Pocono, 3rd straight of 2026

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