Denny Hamlin on Pole at Pocono as Gibbs Sweeps Front Row

Teams and drivers are ready to race on this 2.5-mile triangular track, which features three unique turns that are all very different from one another. There was a short practice session earlier today, which lead directly into qualifying for tomorrow's race.

A familiar face will lead the field to the green flag tomorrow as Denny Hamlin took the top spot in qualifying. No driver has won at Pocono more than Hamlin, who has six career Cup victories. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver is looking for his 7th win tomorrow at a track where he has 14 top-five finishes and 797 career laps led.

This is the fourth Pocono pole for Hamlin and his third pole of the season. “I hope it just keeps driving like that. It’s good. We just made some big strides from practice, honestly," Hamlin said. "That was the biggest thing. The team just did a phenomenal job getting this thing ready for qualifying. I made some adjustments, and it was all better."

“I think the track just fits my driving style and it’s a place I picked up on right from the first time rookie season. It’s a great race track, very challenging and it’s tough to get your car balanced for all three turns. Obviously, I have been very fortunate to work with some great teams and crew chiefs throughout my career as well. That gives me a lot of confidence every time I go to Pocono."

Joining Hamlin on the front row tomorrow will be his teammate, Kyle Busch. The two-time Cup champion brushed the wall in the final round of qualifying but was still able to put down an impressive time.

As efforts continue to get his future driving plans secured, Busch says it has not been a distraction. "When you’re behind the wheel and racing, you’re focused on that task and what that is,” he said. “You try to put that best foot forward and that chance to be able to go out there and score wins. Your best thing right now is to go out there and show everybody you can still do it that you can still win that you can still be competitive."

“We’re all working as hard as we can obviously, and the goal hasn’t changed, and that goal is for me to be able to continue at Joe Gibbs Racing with Toyota and have that chance to continue to race for race wins and race for championships. That’s what everybody is striving for. That’s the first goal and we’ll continue to try to push for that.”

Hamlin and Busch will be the favorites this weekend. The two veterans have combined to win ten races here. Kyle, in particular, has been hot in recent years winning four of the last nine races. He is the defending race winner, and also finished runner-up in the first of the doubleheader races last year. Hamlin has led the most laps among active drivers, while Busch ranks third in that category.

Row 2 belongs to Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson. Neither driver has won here in the combined 26 starts between them. Elliott has finished 1st or 2nd in each of the last four races, a streak that he hopes to keep intact tomorrow.

Starting in Row 3 will be Chris Buescher and Ryan Blaney. Two more Toyota drivers start from Row 4 with Bubba Wallace and Martin Truex Jr. Rounding out the top ten in qualifying were Daniel Suarez and Kurt Busch. The 23XI Racing driver will likely start at the rear of the field tomorrow, as he crashed in Turn 3 during his final qualifying run.

Kurt has three wins at Pocono and has led the second-most laps (596) around the Tricky Triangle. Those three wins all came with different teams (Roush, Penske, Stewart Haas) and the driver of the No. 45 Camry hopes to add to that number tomorrow.

A motivated Truex will be seeking his third Pocono win tomorrow. After dominating the race last weekend at New Hampshire, where he swept the first two stages and led 172 laps, a two-tire call on his final pit stop ended up costing him the race. The JGR driver is fighting for one of the final playoff spots, still chasing his first win of the season.

Three more winless drivers trying to lock up a playoff spot are Blaney, Kevin Harvick, and Brad Keselowski. All three of them have won at Pocono before, and need to do it again to secure their postseason births. Brad's victory came more than a decade ago, although he did finish 3rd in the second race here last year. Winning a race is his only way of getting in.

Blaney and Harvick are still capable of getting in based on points, but things are complicated with 14 different race winners already. Blaney finished inside the top-six in both races here last season and is itching to get to victory lane.

"Same situation, we've got to win," Blaney said. "Six races to go and you never know who can jump up there. I’d love to win so you all stop asking me the same question every week! I want to win real bad, so hopefully, we can do it this weekend."

Harvick won here in 2020 and has performed very well at this track. He has been remarkably consistent with his finishes at Pocono.

In addition to his victory, Harvick has five runner-up finishes in his last 15 starts here. He has also finished 4th seven times over the course of his career at Pocono. He has the most top-five and top-ten finishes among active drivers and has completed a total of 6,992 laps, which is also the most among drivers competing this weekend. The bad news for Harvick is that he starts 24th tomorrow.

Qualifying is always important for a variety of reasons, but the numbers show that you don't need to necessarily start up front to finish there. The pole sitter has only won once in the last 17 Pocono races. In fact, the last three races were won from the 19th, 13th, and 19th starting positions. Kyle Busch won the 2018 race after starting in 28th position.

Last week's winner Christopher Bell just missed advancing to the final round and starts 11th tomorrow. Hendrick teammates Alex Bowman and William Byron will start from Row 9. Byron lost control of his No. 24 Chevrolet during practice and spun exiting Turn 3 but was able to avoid hitting anything.

Byron will start even further back tomorrow, after the team said they have to make repairs to the “underneath portion” of the car, which was damaged during his spin. Ross Chastain had a nearly identical spin during practice and qualified in the 21st position.

Tomorrow marks the 89th Cup race at Pocono, as Richard Petty won the inaugural event in 1974. This race has been won by champions throughout the history of the sport, and recently it has been Joe Gibbs Racing that has been the dominant team. The organization has won six of the last nine races here. Truex, a current JGR driver, took the checkered flag in one of those races when he was driving for Furniture Row Racing. That is seven wins for Toyota in that time span.

Coverage for tomorrow's M&M's Fan Appreciation 400 at Pocono begins at 3 PM ET on USA Network.