NASCAR superstar Denny Hamlin shares a fan's hysterical reaction to winning the Phoenix pole - "I freaked out"

Star NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin grabbed pole position for the Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix Raceway. He later shared a hysterical reaction from one of his fans, who 'freaked out' at seeing Hamlin and his teammate Ty Gibbs in the front row.

Hamlin and the Toyotas set the pace in the qualifying session, with the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver posting the fastest time in Round 1 to advance to the final round. He backed it up with another fastest lap to fetch his 41st NASCAR Cup Series career pole position.

Denny Hamlin may have a polarizing presence in NASCAR, but he also has a passionate fanbase. One of his supporters, Cindy Wells, shared a humorous video on Instagram tagging Hamlin.

In the post, she lamented missing the final round of the session while being caught up in chores, only to discover that her favorite driver had secured the front row for Sunday's race.

"My dad called me and said Denny won the pole, I was doing chores in the other room," she wrote in her post. "Congrats on the pole win @dennyhamlin. And I freaked out cause Ty [Gibbs] was next to him, two of my faves, @tygibbs"

Hamlin shared the video of the JGR supporter having a hysterical breakdown in front of the TV.

Denny Hamlin's Instagram Story

Denny Hamlin's popularity has skyrocketed in recent years for several reasons. Along with playing a starring role in NASCAR's Netflix docu-series, Hamlin has embraced the role of being NASCAR's villain. Even Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson recently acknowledged Hamlin's persona.

Hamiln and Gibbs will lead the field to the green flag for the Shriners Children's 500 on March 10, at 3:47 pm ET.

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Denny Hamlin stoked about making progress at Phoenix Raceway

The spring race at Phoenix Raceway holds very high significance for the NASCAR Cup Series teams, as the one-mile oval also hosts the title decider in November.

Denny Hamlin said that he hasn't been particularly impressive at Phoenix since his last win on the track in 2019. The #11 JGR driver has not taken a top-five finish in the next-gen car but was stoked with the progress the team made this weekend.

Reflecting on his previous results at the track, Hamlin said after the qualifying session (via motorsport.com):

"It feels great. I’ve really been trying to get better at this place. Since 2019, really since the Next Gen era, we just haven’t been as strong at this race track as we want to."

"If we want to make a run at the championship and you have to win it through Phoenix then you have to get better at Phoenix. So, really hard at trying to get better at Phoenix – the whole team is. It’s a great start. Pretty happy about it."

A strong outing in the Shriners Children's 500 will undoubtedly bolster Hamlin's confidence in his bid for his maiden title.