LONG POND, Pa. – Denny Hamlin retook the lead with five laps to go at Pocono Raceway and went on to win his third consecutive race, closing the points gap and moving to ninth on the all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins list.

In the closing laps of Sunday’s Great American Getaway 400 presented by VISITPA, pit strategy became key with the race going 50 laps caution free to the finish. Christopher Bell, who was racing with a broken left wrist was trying to stretch the fuel to the end, and it didn’t work out. Hamlin soared by Bell with five laps to go and went on to capture his 64^th-career win and his fourth of the 2026 season.

“I have to say, awesome for the King’s Hawaiian car, finally the King’s Hawaiian curse is over,” Hamlin said. “They thought my head was getting a little big, so they made me wear this suit this week to put me back to where I need to be.

“Just so happy for this whole Joe Gibbs Racing team. The pit crew is flawless right now. We got it all going.”

Hamlin has now won the past three races, which has allowed his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota to team significantly slash Tyler Reddick’s point lead. Hamlin now only trails by 19 points with 10 races to go in the Regular Season. With the win, Hamlin also surpassed the late Kyle Busch for ninth on the series’ all-time wins list.

“I would certainly say it’s the best we’ve been,” Hamlin said. “We come to the racetrack every week knowing we got a great shot to win. The team’s doing an amazing job giving me exactly what I need in the car every single week. That’s why we’re winning.”

Reddick raced around the top-10 for most of the day; however, he pitted late and the fresh tires gave him the speed to finish runner-up on Sunday. He was running faster lap times than Hamlin, but there weren’t enough laps for him to challenge for the win.

“It almost worked,” Reddick said. “When you go that long, it all kind of falls to how you catch cars. I think we definitely lost a second and a half there when we just took the tires and caught the 9 (Chase Elliott) and 17 (Chris Buescher). Lap down cars side by side. We definitely lost time, a couple spots there.”

Reddick continued and said, “Yeah, it’s a bummer. I mean, if the 11 wasn’t the winner, you could consider this a good day. 35 points just aren’t enough right now, so…”

Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron finished third, and rounding out the top-five was John Hunter Nemecheck and Kyle Larson. Erik Jones finished sixth, followed by Buescher, Ross Chastain, Ty Gibbs and Ryan Blaney.

Hamlin won Stage 1, and Todd Gilliland won Stage 2.

There were 16 lead changes among 11 drivers. Legacy Motor Club’s Nemechek led a race high of 42 laps.

The caution came out on five occasions for 23 laps, but only two were for accidents.

On Lap 42, Gilliand spun in Turn 1 and pounded the inside wall.

On Lap 48, contact between Austin Hill, Shane van Gisbergen and Josh Berry coming out of Turn 4 ignited a nine-car pile-up along the frontstretch.

The NASCAR Cup Series will now head to San Diego for the first time as the stars will take on the 3.5-mile San Diego Street Course at the Naval Air Station North Island on Sunday, June 21. Live coverage will broadcast on Prime at 4 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Patricia McCoarmack/TheFourthTurn.com