LONG POND, Pa. >> Pocono Raceway paints its signature black rocks outside the garage in gold lettering with a last name and race car number highlighted to honor some of NASCAR’s greats. Jimmie Johnson has one. So does Richard Petty, among others.

So where’s the celebratory boulder for Denny Hamlin, who holds the track record with seven wins and saw another victory thrown out in 2022 because of a disqualification?

Hamlin laughed when he said Pocono officials told him the requirement was, “either retire or die.”

At 44 years old, Hamlin — who just welcomed a son with fiancee Jordan Fish — should have the prime of his life ahead.

As for retirement? What, and miss out on all the fun?

Even without a Cup championship on his resume, Hamlin remains a dominant force in the sport and he showed again Saturday why he’s the driver to beat on the 2 1/2-mile tri-oval track. Hamlin skipped last week’s race in Mexico City following his son’s birth and returned without missing a beat, turning a lap of 172.599 mph to take the top spot in Sunday’s race.

“Truthfully, I’m on a run,” Hamlin said. “I don’t know how else to say it.”

Yes, life is good for Hamlin, especially after the couple welcomed their third child, Jameson Drew Hamlin, on June 11. Hamlin shared in a social media post that the baby was 8 pounds, 4 ounces and measured 22 3/4 inches.

The name has special meaning: The three-time Daytona 500 champion’s given name is James Dennis Alan Hamlin. So his son’s name is for James’ son and the JD theme is for two men (JD Gibbs and James Dean) who helped launch his career path into NASCAR.

Hamlin said a difficult labor and the logistical issues of traveling on short notice to Mexico forced him to miss the race.

“If we were racing at Darlington,” he said, “I would have been there on race day.”

The layoff didn’t affect Hamlin. He earned his third NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season and 57th of his career on June 8 at Michigan International Speedway and jumped right back into the top spot at Pocono.

Maybe some unexpected rest this week helped Hamlin crush it in the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.

“He’s slept through the night the last three nights in a row. So it’s been really, really great,” Hamlin said.

Hamlin is the 5-1 betting favorite to win Sunday, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.

The rest of the lineup

Chris Buescher starts second at Pocono and Carson Hocevar — embroiled in a feud with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who has vowed retaliation for recent wrecks — is third. John Hunter Nemechek is fourth and Cole Custer fifth.

Led by Hamlin, Toyota had six of the top-10 starting spots.

Pocono sellout

Pocono Raceway continued its renaissance with a third straight sellout crowd set for Sunday. The track sold out all frontstretch seating, premium seating, suites, infield camping and the grandstand camping area. It also is the fifth consecutive year that the entire infield camping inventory has been sold out.

Pocono President Ben May said the track sold around 50,000 grandstand tickets, around 2,000 suite seats and 3,300 camping spots.