LONG POND - When the green flag drops on the Pocono 400 Sunday afternoon, it will be a familiar face at the front of the field.

And no, it won't be Jimmie Johnson.Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin earned his third career Coors Light pole award at the Tricky Triangle with a track record lap of 49.610 (181.415), which smashed Johnson's previous mark of 49.819 (180.545) set last August.The performance shouldn't come as much of a surprise, as Hamlin owns a Sprint Cup Series best 6.5 average starting position at the track to go along with four wins.Despite Hamlin's gaudy numbers, the pole is his first since his rookie season in 2006, when he swept the top spot in both races. But that was before the 2011 repave."The race track is just so different, you might as well rename it it's just not the same as it used to be," Hamlin said of the new surface. "The setups are completely different, the way you drive it is completely different. The technique is somewhat similar, but you use so much more throttle than before."Hamlin's past success also came with the single-car qualifying format. But the 33-year old was able to take advantage of the new three-round knockout style put in place this year to improve a car that was only 24th after the only practice session earlier in the day."It's a tough balance, but we really just made the car a lot better," he said. "Each session our balance got a little bit better and we were able to get a little bit more speed out of it. That's the kind of thing you want to do, play it enough in the first few rounds to get to the final round where you go all out."It was a great job by my FedEx Ground Toyota team. We didn't test up here; we were one of the only teams that didn't test. But it's good to have a strong showing on the first day here."Hamlin wasn't the only one to have a strong showing, as several other drivers broke the previous track record in the third round of qualifying.Kurt Busch, who starts second, broke the mark twice. The Stewart Haas Racing driver set a time of 49.700 (181.087) to top the second round, and finished with a mark of 49.612 (181.408) in the final round, only two one thousandths slower than Hamlin."It didn't feel that close in the car," he said. "I just have to thank Daniel (Knost, crew chief) for putting us in a position to have a shot at the pole."We haven't been all that good this year with the Haas Automation Chevy. We haven't done our job to the best of our ability, but hopefully this is a turn for the better."Penske Racing's Brad Keselowski was right behind Busch in the second round of knockout qualifying at 49.738 (180.730). And, like Busch, he improved his time in the final round, finishing third at 49.637 (181.316).Knowing Busch was fast, Keselowski was somewhat surprised with the eventual pole winner."We were just really close on speed and it was going to be curious to see who would get the top spot," he said. "I didn't think Denny (Hamlin) was that fast, but I knew Kurt was and they both put up good laps. I feel like we put up a good lap as well; we were just a little bit short."On a 2.5-mile track, that is pretty dang close. We have a lot to be proud of with our efforts. We're qualifying well each week and that's helpful because we get a good pit stall, which is always important."Hamlin, too, knows how critical that can be."It's good to have that number one pit stall that will pay dividends on Sunday," he said. "I have the best crew on pit road. Hopefully, it lends itself to a great win on Sunday."Kevin Harvick, who starts fourth, was the only other drive to break the track record, clocking in at 49.770 (180.832) in his Budweiser Chevrolet. Jeff Gordon rounded out the top-five with a time of 49.858 (180.513).