Denny Hamlin Secures Pole at World Wide Technology Raceway
Pilot Denny Hamlin kept his perfect streak in qualifying during the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, obtaining the pole position on Saturday at the World Wide Technology Raceway. This achievement represents the 46th pole in Hamlin’s career and the third of this season for the Joe Gibbs Racing star, who also led the qualifying in last week’s playoff race at Darlington Raceway.Kyle Larson secured the second spot on the grid, alongside Hamlin, achieving his first top-ten result in qualifying at the 1.25-mile oval east of St. Louis.“We made some excellent adjustments from where we were in practice,” Hamlin commented, who completed a lap at 139.190 mph with his No. 11 Toyota. “That’s what they did so well last week for qualifying. Now we have an excellent track position and we just have to maintain it, and we’ll be in good shape.”
Denny Hamlin
- Chase Briscoe qualified third.
- Ross Chastain.
- Ryan Blaney.
- William Byron.
- Tyler Reddick.
- Christopher Bell.
- Austin Cindric completed the top nine, all playoff drivers, for Sunday’s 300-mile race at Gateway.
Alex Bowman, who hasn’t finished higher than 13th at Gateway, qualified 25th, being 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,” said the 2021 Cup champion. “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
