Denny Hamlin Secures Pole at World Wide Technology Raceway
MADISON, Ill. – Denny Hamlin maintains his lead in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, securing the pole position on Saturday at the World Wide Technology Raceway. This is Hamlin’s 46th pole in his career and the third of the season, for the star driver of Joe Gibbs Racing, who also led the qualifying in last week’s playoff race at Darlington Raceway.Kyle Larson will start second alongside Hamlin, achieving his first top-10 qualifying effort 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, with the playoff drivers occupying the top nine starting positions for Sunday’s 300-mile race at Gateway. Alex Bowman, who hasn’t finished above 13th 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 last place in the standings among the 16 playoff drivers.“We made big adjustments since practice,” Hamlin commented, who completed a lap at 139.190 mph in 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 keep it, and we’ll be in good shape.”
Denny Hamlin
