Denny Hamlin has won his third race in a row in the NASCAR Cup Series passing teammate Christopher Bell late at Pocono this morning.

After starting on the pole, Hamlin fell to second in the first few laps to Hendrick’s front-ronner Kyle Larson, before reeling in the #5 Chevrolet to take the lead back 25 laps into the race, and winning Stage 1.

Legacy Motor Clubs John Hunter Nemechek pulled a clever strategy to lead early in Stage 2, before Zane Smith spun exiting turn 1 trying to make a pass for 2nd place.

On the restart, Austin Hill squeezed Shane van Gisbergen and Josh Berry into the wall exiting Turn 3 causing a 9-car wreck.

Playoff contenders Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano were also involved, with Keselowski copping the worst of it after he hit a spinning Bubba Wallace, ending his day.

Todd Gilliland wound up winning Stage 2 over Tyler Reddick; the first stage win of the 26-year-old’s career.

After the final pit cycle finished, Bell had an 11-second lead over teammate Hamlin, and looked to be in a good position to take a remarkable win, racing with a broken wrist after last weeks horrific crash at Michigan.

But it wasn’t to be for Bell, running out of fuel with three laps remaining, handing over the lead to his teammate.

Bell finished in 26th place after stopping with two laps to go.

This marks the 64th career victory for Hamlin, officially passing his late friend and rival Kyle Busch on the all-time wins list.

Next week, NASCAR turns to San Diego for the inaugural Anduril 250 Race the Base, next Monday at 6AM AEST.