Denny Hamlin Dominates Qualifying at World Wide Technology Raceway
Madison, Ill. – Denny Hamlin demonstrated his supremacy in the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying by securing the pole position this Saturday at the World Wide Technology Raceway. This is the 46th pole position of his career and the third of the season for the outstanding Joe Gibbs Racing driver, who also led the standings in the opening playoff race last week at Darlington Raceway.Hamlin achieved a lap at 139.190 mph in his No. 11 Toyota. Kyle Larson will start in second place alongside Hamlin, achieving his first top-ten result in qualifying at the 1.25-mile oval east of St. Louis. Chase Briscoe qualified third, followed by Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, and Austin Cindric. The playoff drivers took the top nine starting positions for Sunday’s 300-mile race at Gateway. This result contrasts with the start of the playoffs in Darlington, where only four championship-eligible drivers finished in the top ten in the Southern 500, a historic low for a playoff race. Among the disappointments was Larson, whose 19th-place finish at Darlington extended a streak of five races without a top-five finish.We made big adjustments since practice. That’s what they did so well last week for qualifying. Now we have a great track position and we just have to maintain it, and we’ll be in good shape.
Denny Hamlin
Alex Bowman, who hasn’t finished above 13th at Gateway, qualified 25th as the only playoff driver to start outside the top 20. Bowman is tied with Josh Berry (who qualified 12th) for last place in the points standings among the 16 playoff drivers.I think our team needs it more than anything. We haven’t been able to celebrate much, so we’ll definitely celebrate a front-row spot at Gateway. It’s been a tough and inconsistent couple of months, so even qualifying well feels really good.
Kyle Larson
