The Minions assembled in Victory Lane as Denny Hamlin drove his King’s Hawaiian Minions-themed Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to a third consecutive Cup win and his second consecutive at Pocono.

The win was also Hamlin's eighth at the Tricky Triangle, and this time to resounding applause in place of the boos heard at the same track back when he took his 7th victory in 2023.

As Hamlin received roars from the crowd signaling a rapid change of his status from the sports villain to its newest hero, emotions filled his post-race interview.

Hamlin responded to the crowd, who cheered his name loudly and tipped their hats, and said, “Thank you. That really means a lot… It’s like a second home for me.”

The win also comes 20 years after Hamlin's very first Cup win on June 11, 2006.

While he did it the hard way, driving from the back to the front at both Nashville and Michigan, this time he kept his pole and drove to the first stage win, a 9th place finish in stage 2, and a composed drive across the line to take his third consecutive win. 

And in doing so, Hamlin added his name to a special list as he became only the fifth driver in NASCAR history to record three or more consecutive Cup wins won from pole.

The last driver to do that was Darrell Waltrip, 44 years ago. Fred Lorenzen, Richard Petty, and Bobby Allison are the other legends on that list.

Hamlin, who drove wearing a Minions-themed race suit, added, “Awesome for the King’s Hawaiian car. Finally, the King’s Hawaiian curse is over. They thought my head was getting a little big, so they made me wear the suit this week and put me back to where I need to be.”

With his latest victory in Pocono, the 9th place in the all-time Cup winners list is now all Denny Hamlin’s, as the JGR driver racked up win number 64 to go one above his former teammate Kyle Busch. 

Hamlin On His Confidence Levels Following Historic Win

As records tumble around Hamlin in the most dominant run of his 21-year Cup career, Hamlin lauded his team and spoke about the mental space he is currently in. 

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

Hamlin was over 100 points away from Tyler Reddick before he won his first Cup race at Nashville Superspeedway. After getting his 4th win this season, Hamlin is now trailing his 23XI No. 45 driver by just 19 points. 

Despite being clear about retirement and 21 years into his Cup career, Hamlin is definitely in his best form right now, still going strong.

He will hope the momentum gives him a push as he heads to back-to-back road course races, tracks where he isn’t considered to be a threat, but his championship rival Reddick is.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason