2026 Great American Getaway 400 Betting Race Picks

Date/Time: Sunday June 14th, 2026. 1:00PM (EST)
Where: Pocono Raceway
TV: Prime

On Sunday, NASCAR’s Cup Series will go racing at Pocono Raceway for the running of the Great American Getaway 400. Originally, the green flag was scheduled to wave shortly after 3:00PM (EST) at Pocono. However on Saturday, NASCAR made the decision to move the start time up two hours because rain is expected to be a factor Sunday afternoon starting around 4-5PM local time. With the adjusted start time, there is optimism that the Cup Series will be able to complete the scheduled 400-mile distance but that is not a guarantee either. We have had several races that were severely impacted by weather in recent weeks and there is reason to be somewhat cautious if that happens again on Sunday!

Despite the weather concerns, I think it is safe to say that everyone is chasing Denny Hamlin going into race day. On Saturday, Hamlin won his 3rd straight pole with a fast lap of 173.250mph. Over the last two weeks, Hamlin has parlayed his last two pole wins into victories despite not getting the opportunity to take advantage of the premium start position. At the race in Nashville, Hamlin was given a penalty for jumping the initial start of the race and was sent to the back of the field. Then last week at Michigan, Hamlin won the pole again but was forced to start in the back because the #11 team had to fix damage to the underbody of the racecar. In both situations, Hamlin was able to rally through the field for the victory. For Sunday, Hamlin should be able to keep his prime starting position barring any unforeseen events and that will undoubtedly make the #11 team difficult to beat as they seek a 3rd straight victory!

Despite Hamlin’s dominance and prime starting position, Pocono Raceway is still one of those venues where there are numerous variables that will come into play. The 2.5 mile layout known as the “Tricky Triangle” has 3 distinct corners that requires a car that handles well in each turn. More importantly, the size of Pocono Raceway always produces a lot of strategy calls from the pitbox. Throughout the years, Pocono has produced a lot of fuel mileage races and we have seen the importance of fuel strategy on a near weekly basis with the Next Gen Car. Additionally, Pocono produces minimal tire wear which will allow teams to gamble with tire variables too as everyone fights for the opportunity to get clean air and track position. The driver/team that wins the track position battle could be the group that goes to victory lane!

Pocono – Notes

• Denny Hamlin has the most wins (7) all-time at Pocono.
• Ryan Blaney is the only other driver with multiple (2) wins at Pocono.
• Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe, and Chris Buescher are also former winners at Pocono.
• Denny Hamlin has finished in the top two positions in each of the last 3 races at Pocono.
• Tyler Reddick has finished 6th or better in 3 of the last 4 races at Pocono.
• Ryan Blaney has finished 6th or better in 4 of the last 6 races at Pocono.
• Kyle Larson has finished 9th or better in 5 of the last 7 races at Pocono.
• Chase Elliott has finished in the Top 10 in each of the last 4 races at Pocono.
• Brad Keselowski has finished in the Top 10 in 13 of the last 17 races at Pocono.
• Bubba Wallace has finished 11th or better in 4 of the last 5 races at Pocono.
• Alex Bowman has finished 11th or better in 6 of the last 7 races at Pocono.
• William Byron has finished 12th or worse in 4 of the last 5 races at Pocono.
• Chase Briscoe (defending winner) has finished 15th or worse in 5 of 6 career starts at Pocono.
• Ross Chastain has finished 24th or worse in 9 of 10 career starts at Pocono.
• Toyota drivers have won 9 of the last 13 races at Pocono.
• The eventual winner has started from the top 8 positions in each of the last 4 races at Pocono.

Practice Observations

When practice concluded on Saturday, Kyle Larson edged out Denny Hamlin for the fastest lap of the session with a speed of 170.707mph. In terms of consecutive laps which are indicative of race speed, Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher both produced really good averages. Buescher was head and shoulders above all other Ford drivers in the field. The Ford teams have struggled in recent weeks in the speed department and that trend seems to be continuing with the exception of Buescher. Aside from Larson and Buescher, most of the Toyota teams continued to show strong speed including the likes of Denny Hamlin, Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick, and Erik Jones. Jones is not typically a driver that we consider in the Toyota camp but the Legacy Motor Club teams have shown really good speed in recent weeks and that seems to be continuing this weekend at Pocono thus far.

While the speed of the Toyotas is least surprising, I would also point out the fact that the Spire Motorsports cars of Daniel Suarez and Carson Hocevar looked really competitive as well. Both drivers were posting very competitive lap times throughout Saturday’s practices and appear to have solid speed. On the other side of the coin, I mentioned earlier that most of the Ford teams seemed to struggle on Saturday. Buescher was the only driver in the top 15 on speed which means guys like Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, and others were not showing a lot of speed despite their impressive Pocono resumes. Additional names that did not appear to be trending in the right direction included the likes of Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott among the prestigious names. Meanwhile, I would throw Ryan Preece into the bucket of drivers that disappointed because the #60 team appeared to be way off the mark on Saturday.

Betting Targets

Without question, Denny Hamlin deserves to be the top overall driver going into Sunday from a handicapping perspective. Not only is Hamlin on a hot-streak but he is the best driver all-time at Pocono. While current betting odds have Hamlin listed extremely low, I cannot fault anyone for continuing to back the #11 who should have a great opportunity to score a 3rd straight win. Behind Hamlin, it becomes really difficult to handicap because a lot of the drivers that typically perform well at Pocono have not performed well in recent weeks, in terms of “speed.” With that being said, I believe both Tyler Reddick and Kyle Larson are legitimate threats based on numerous handicapping angles. Reddick and Larson are both rank in the Top 5 at Pocono in terms of average driver rating in the Next Gen Car and have shown speed in recent weeks as well as this weekend already.

Personally, I am not extremely confident in many dark horses on Sunday but at the same time I believe there are a lot of dark horses that could surprise folks. Chris Buescher is one of my favorite targets among the Ford drivers going into Sunday. Meanwhile, drivers like Carson Hocevar, Daniel Suarez, and Erik Jones are all candidates to produce quality runs inside the Top 10. Based on current betting odds, both Hocevar and Jones can also be considered in H2H formats as ideal targets. If you are looking for extremely deep options, Cole Custer and John Hunter Nemechek are receiving huge numbers behind their names and can be considered targets in prop bet formats, specifically top 10 props. Custer has been really good at Pocono throughout his career and JHN is among the Legacy Motor Club organization that has been showing a big uptick in speed!

2026 Draftkings Great American Getaway 400 Optimal Lineup

2026 Great American Getaway 400 Race Picks

*FINAL*

Kyle Larson +550 (1 unit)
Chase Briscoe +1200 (.75 unit)
Chris Buescher +1500 (.5 unit)

H2H Match-Ups and Props

Chris Buescher -135 over William Byron (3 units)
Chase Elliott -115 over Christopher Bell (2 units)
Erik Jones -115 finishes Top 10 (2 units)
Cole Custer +1800 finishes Top 10 (.5 unit)

Two Team Parlay

Denny Hamlin +160 wins Great American Getaway 400
Brad Keselowski +235 finishes Top 10
Risking 1 unit to win: +770