Denny Hamln tops qualifying at Gateway, captures second consecutive pole

Denny Hamlin won the Busch Light Pole Award after posting the fastest lap during NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

It’s the third pole this season for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, his second straight in the playoffs and his 46th career pole in the series.

Hamlin explained the complexities of transitioning from practice to qualifying.

“We were able to, very similarly to last week, make some great adjustments from where we were in practice – and again, there is so much that is different from practice to qualifying when you are going for one lap,” Hamlin said.

“Air pressures at a track like this is dramatically different, certainly, the intensity from which I drive is a lot different in practice than qualifying. They gave me all of the adjustments that I needed to have a really good-handling car there and we were able to capitalize on it.”

Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson will join Hamlin on the front row. Chase Briscoe, winner of last week’s Cup Series race at Darlington, will start third. Ross Chastain and Ryan Blaney completed the top five fastest drivers during the qualifying session.

Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 will be broadcast at 3 p.m. ET on the USA Network with additional coverage provided by MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and the NBC Sports App. 

Starting Lineup at Gateway: (P=Playoff Drivers)

1. No. 11 Denny Hamlin (P)
2. No. 5 Kyle Larson (P)
3. No. 19 Chase Briscoe (P)
4. No. 1 Ross Chastain (P)
5. No. 12 Ryan Blaney (P)
6. No. 24 William Byron (P)
7. No. 45 Tyler Reddick (P)
8. No. 20 Christopher Bell (P)
9. No. 2 Austin Cindric (P)
10. No. 38 Zane Smith
11. No. 17 Chris Buescher
12. No. 21 Josh Berry (P)
13. No. 22 Joey Logano (P)
14. No. 23 Bubba Wallace (P)
15. No. 3 Austin Dillon (P)
16. No. 43 Erik Jones
17. No. 16 A.J. Allmendinger
18. No. 88 Shane van Gisbergen (P)
19. No. 9 Chase Elliott (P)
20. No. 42 John Hunter Nemechek
21. No. 54 Ty Gibbs
22. No. 8 Kyle Busch
23. No. 6 Brad Keselowski
24. No. 4 Noah Gragson
25. No. 48 Alex Bowman (P)
26. No. 99 Daniel Suarez
27. No. 77 Carson Hocevar
28. No. 71 Michael McDowell
29. No. 41 Cole Custer
30. No. 34 Todd Gilliland
31. No. 7 Justin Haley
32. No. 60 Ryan Preece
33. No. 35 Riley Herbst
34. No. 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
35. No. 10 Ty Dillon
36. No. 51 Cody Ware