Hamlin Dominates: Pole Position at Gateway and Leads NASCAR Playoffs

Denny Hamlin Secures Pole at World Wide Technology Raceway

Pilot Denny Hamlin continues to demonstrate his dominance in NASCAR Cup Series qualifying, securing the pole position this Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway. This is Hamlin’s 46th pole in his career and the third of the season for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, who also led the standings at the start of the playoffs last week at Darlington Raceway.

“We made some big adjustments from where we were in practice,” Hamlin commented, who recorded a lap of 139.190 mph in his No. 11 Toyota. “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

Kyle Larson qualified in second place, alongside Hamlin, achieving his first top-ten finish on the 1.25-mile oval east of St. Louis. Chase Briscoe finished third, followed by Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, and Austin Cindric. The playoff drivers occupied the top nine starting positions for Sunday’s 300-mile race at Gateway. This contrasts with the start of the playoffs at Darlington, where only four championship-eligible drivers finished in the top ten, a historic low for the playoff opener. Among the disappointments, Larson, who hasn’t achieved a top five finish in the last five races, commented:

“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 start at Gateway. It’s been a tough and inconsistent couple of months, so even qualifying well feels really good.”

Kyle Larson

Alex Bowman, who hasn’t finished higher than 13th at Gateway, qualified in 25th place, being the only playoff driver outside the top 20. Bowman is tied with Josh Berry (who qualified 12th) in the last position of the standings among the 16 playoff drivers.