NASCAR Great American Getaway 400 takeaways: Denny Hamlin notches career first with latest Pocono win

In a race that was moved up two hours to beat the weather, Denny Hamlin once again found himself in victory lane after winning three consecutive races for the first time in his career in Sunday's race at Pocono Raceway.

Here are four takeaways from the NASCAR Cup Series' Great American Getaway 400:

Denny Hamlin on historic tear after Pocono win

It was not a straightforward day by any means for Hamlin as strategy mixed the running order up throughout the race. That included Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell, who tried to stretch his fuel before losing the lead to Hamlin in the closing laps and running out.

That enabled Hamlin to reestablish control and hold off a surging Tyler Reddick by 1.6 seconds to win for the fourth time this season and the eighth time in his career at Pocono. Hamlin now passes the late Kyle Busch for ninth on the all-time wins list with 64.

Not only is it the first time in Hamlin's illustrious career that he has won three in a row, but the Prime Video telecast noted that he joined Hall of Famers Richard Petty (1966-67), Bobby Allison (1971) and Darrell Waltrip (1981) as the only drivers to win three straight Cup Series races from the pole.

Granted, Hamlin had to come from the back each of the last two weeks after jumping the start at Nashville and unapproved adjustments from practice at Michigan. However, that only highlights his recent dominance even more and shows why he has trimmed Reddick's points lead all the way down to 19. 

Christopher Bell comes up short after fuel mileage gamble

It appeared for moments in the final stage that perhaps Bell could stretch enough fuel to hold off Hamlin. In the end, it was not meant to be and Bell faded to 26th after running out in the closing laps.

That came after Bell fractured his left wrist in a violent crash with Chase Elliott at Michigan. While upcoming races in San Diego and Sonoma will present more of a challenge from inside the car, Bell completed all 400 miles at Pocono and nearly came out on top.

Legacy Motor Club continues to impress

The race team co-owned by seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson had another encouraging run on Sunday with John Hunter Nemechek (fourth) and Erik Jones (sixth) finishing inside the top 10. 

Jones led one lap and Nemechek paced the field for 42, combining to lead the most laps for the organization since 2013. Both drivers have showed speed in recent weeks and continued that trend on Sunday. In fact, Jones has now moved into the 16-driver "Chase" field, sitting four points to the good over Brad Keselowski in 15th. 

Brad Keselowski's slide continues

The 2012 Cup Series champion had a solid start to the 2026 season, but it has been a challenging stretch of late. Engine issues in qualifying forced Keselowski to start Sunday's race from the rear and it did not take long for the poor track position to come back and bite him.

Josh Berry went high off Turn 3 and made contact with the outside wall, coming back down into Shane van Gisbergen and triggering a multi-car crash down the frontstretch involving Keselowski on Lap 47.