Hamlin Imposes Dominance: Pole Position at Gateway and Seeks NASCAR Triumph

Denny Hamlin Remains Impeccable in NASCAR Cup Series Standings

MADISON, Ill. – Denny Hamlin demonstrated his dominance in the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying by securing the pole position on Saturday at the World Wide Technology Raceway. This achievement marks Hamlin’s 46th pole position in the race and the third this season for the Joe Gibbs Racing star, who also led the qualifying in last week’s playoff race at Darlington Raceway.

“We made big adjustments from where we were in practice. That’s what they did so well last week for the qualifying. Now we have a great track position and we just have to maintain it, and we’ll be in good shape,” Hamlin said.

Denny Hamlin

Hamlin completed a lap at 139.190 mph in his No. 11 Toyota. 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. Chase Briscoe qualified third, followed by Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, and Austin Cindric, completing the top nine starting positions for the playoff drivers in Sunday’s 300-mile race at Gateway. This classification represented a notable contrast to the start of the playoffs in Darlington, where only four championship-eligible drivers finished in the top ten in the Southern 500, marking a historic low for an inaugural playoff race. Among the disappointments was Larson, whose 19th place finish at Darlington extended a streak of five races without a top-five result.

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

Kyle Larson

Alex Bowman, who hasn’t finished above 13th place at Gateway, qualified in 25th place, being the only playoff driver to start 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.