Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Denny Hamlin, turns in a lap of 99.595 mph to set a new track record and score the Coors Light pole for the Goody’s 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Today’s record was the 18th new track record this season.
The pole was Hamlin’s fifth of the season and 17th of his career. Qualifying has been one of the few highlights for Hamlin this season. He missed four races earlier in the season with injuries sustained in a crash at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA. His stats this season have been off tremendously scoring only five top-10’s in his 28 starts.
Hamlin talked about his run, “I knew we were going to be pretty strong, I knew we had a shot at the pole, and beyond that I think our car was pretty good in race trim as well.”
Hamlin is always strong at Martinsville and he seems to have a little more pep in his step in the last few weeks. This could be a sign that the team has turned things around, identified the problems, and are now looking to finish the season on a high note.
Championship points leader, Jimmie Johnson, will start outside the front row. Johnson turned in a lap of 99.344 mph. His lap tied the lap posted by Hamlin’s teammate, Kyle Busch. Johnson took the higher position, however, due to the tiebreaker.
Johnson and Busch joked in the media center after qualifying about the fact that Johnson thought he was starting third. Busch stated, “He wanted third because he wanted to be on the inside.”
Johnson talked about his qualifying effort, “I felt like I had a good last lap, although it wasn’t the most efficient and smoothest lap, so I felt like I had a chance to slide down to fifth or sixth or something as the session went on.”
Matt Kenseth, who currently sits second in the points, will start fourth giving Joe Gibbs Racing three of the top five spots. Kenseth is currently only four points behind Johnson, who is the favorite to win on Sunday.
Rounding out the top five is Michael Waltrip Racing driver, Clint Bowyer. Bowyer, who currently sits ninth in the standings 57 points behind leader Johnson, turned in a lap of 99.162 mph.
Toyota has four of the top five spots with Ford sitting sixth and eighth and Chevrolet seventh, ninth and tenth.
The Goody’s 500 is set to go green at 1:30pm local time on Sunday.
