Hamlin, 7-time winner at Pocono, earns Great American Getaway pole - ESPN

Perhaps not too surprisingly, Pocono (Pa.) Raceway's all-time winningest driver, Denny Hamlin, was fastest in the field Saturday to earn pole position for Sunday's The Great American Getaway 400 (2 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota will take the green flag to start the NASCAR Cup Series race and historically speaking, no one has led the field to more checkered flags; his seven wins at Pocono are most in history. And he has finished first or second in five of the past eight races on the 2.5-mile unique three-turn track.

Hamlin's lap of 172.599 mph was .083-second faster than Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing's Chris Buescher in the No. 17 Ford. Spire Motorsports' Carson Hocevar (Chevrolet), Legacy Motor Club's John Hunter Nemechek (Toyota) and Haas Factory Team's Cole Custer (Ford) rounded out the top-five in qualifying.

It marks a big return for the season's three-time race winner Hamlin who is back on the grid after receiving a waiver from NASCAR, missing last weekend's inaugural race in Mexico City to be home for the birth of his son.

«We typically can step up from practice,» said Hamlin, who was not even among the top-10 fastest drivers in the afternoon's practice session. «We had good adjustments so never really panicked too much

»And obviously because I was a little more rested than the rest of the field right there, I was able to show a little more speed," he added with a smile and nod to missing last week's race.

«Every week we have a good shot to win and this team just knows what I need out of the car. The cars and tires have changed over time, but you still make speed at this track the same way. I was able to execute there in qualifying and that's a good