After posting a lap that was three-tenths faster than his closest competitor while he was on track, pole position all but belonged to Martin Truex Jr. But after time expired, Denny Hamlin edged him out by five-one thousandths of a second and took the pole for the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota won the pole with a final round time of 31.038 and a speed of 173.980 mph.
“We had him there by a little bit. I messed up (Turns) 3 and 4 by a bunch, but honestly a great run. We did great adjustments there in between runs. Our FedEx Camry was obviously very fast that last run.”
It’s his 26th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series pole.
Truex qualified second with a final round time of 31.043 and a speed of 173.952 mph.
“It was a good effort today by everyone on the Bass Pro Camry team. Just come here, (with) a lot of pressure, a lot going on. And to be able to stay focused, have a solid day was important. Definitely wished we could’ve been first, five thousandths away from that. But the first two rounds were really good and just missed it a little bit that last one. Proud of everybody. We outran the other three guys, which is good. But I don’t think it’s a big deal, because we were all pretty tight together and this is a track you can pass on. All and all, successful day, and one spot from where we wanted to be.”
Kyle Busch will start third with a final round time of 31.047 and a speed of 173.980 mph. Matt Kenseth will start fourth with a final round time of 31.272 and a speed of 172.678 mph. Brad Keselowski will round out the top-five starters with a final round time of 31.313 and a speed of 172.452 mph.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick and Daniel Suarez will round out the top-10 starters.
Ryan Blaney and Trevor Bayne will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying.
No car failed to make the race.
