Denny Hamlin spoiled Carson Hocevar’s homecoming at the very last second by snatching the Busch Light Pole Award for the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday, June 7.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through an on-track qualifying session that consisted of a single-truck, single-lap qualifying format. During the session, each of the competitors vying for starting spots cycled around Michigan International Speedway once to post the fastest lap amongst one another. The competitor who posted the single fastest lap was awarded the pole position.
In Saturday’s qualifying session, Hamlin, who was the fifth-fastest competitor in Saturday’s practice session and rallied from having a flat left-rear tire that damaged the bottom side of his entry, which stalled him while he was trying to nurse his entry back to pit road, in practice, was the 37th and final competitor to post a qualifying lap. During his session, he posted a lap at 195.117 mph in 36.901 seconds. Hamlin’s lap was enough for the three-time Daytona 500 champion from Chesterfield, Virginia, to knock Hocevar off the top of the qualifying charts and achieve the pole
With the pole, Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE entry for a 26th consecutive year, notched his 50th career pole in the NASCAR Cup Series division and became the 10th competitor overall to achieve the feat of reaching at least 50 poles in NASCAR’s premier series. Hamlin’s 2026 Michigan pole was also his second at the Irish Hills and his second of this season.
“[The No. 11 team] did a great job accounting for the damage on the bottom side,” Hamlin said. “They rebalanced [the car]. It was a handful. It was all I wanted, certainly, but hats off to this whole National Debt Toyota team. That was surprising. I remember being at Richmond way back in [2006] or so, [2007]. Just trying to get a pole at my home track. I get it. I feel like that sorry for [Hocevar].”
Hamlin would have shared the front row with Carson Hocevar, but the former will drop towards the tail end of the field for Sunday’s main event as his No. 11 team will repair the pole-winning entry. Nevertheless, Hamlin, who rallied from serving a drive-through penalty at the start of last weekend’s event at Nashville Superspeedway to win and who also won last year’s Michigan event, will attempt to double down with a second consecutive victory in recent weeks.
As Hamlin drops towards the tail end of the field, Hocevar, a Portage, Michigan native, will lead the field to the event’s start as he starts on the front row for a second time in a Cup event in 2026. Hocevar, who was the 10th-fastest competitor in practice, posted his single lap at 195.022 mph in 36.919 seconds. Still, he was left dejected after being beaten for the pole by Hamlin at the last second.
“I mean, I know it’s just qualifying, but damn, I didn’t know I wanted [the pole],” Hocevar said. “I know I wanted it this much here, but it just means a lot for so many reasons.”
Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe qualified in the top five, respectively. Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, William Byron and Erik Jones completed the top-10 starting lineup, respectively.
Notably, Josh Berry will also start towards the tail end of the field after he spun and flat-spotted his tires through Turns 3 and 4 while he attempted to post a qualifying lap.
With 37 competitors vying for 37 starting spots, all made the main event.
Michigan – Qualifying Position, Best Speed, Best Time:
- Denny Hamlin, 195.117 mph, 36.901 seconds
- Carson Hocevar, 195.022 mph, 36.919 seconds
- Tyler Reddick, 194.969 mph, 36.929 seconds
- Ty Gibbs, 194.842 mph, 36.953 seconds
- Chase Briscoe, 194.826 mph, 36.956 seconds
- Chase Elliott, 194.816 mph, 36.958 seconds
- Kyle Larson, 194.768 mph, 36.967 seconds
- Christopher Bell, 194.579 mph, 37.003 seconds
- William Byron, 194.395 mph, 37.038 seconds
- Erik Jones, 194.122 mph, 37.090 seconds
- Daniel Suarez, 193.960 mph, 37.121 seconds
- Riley Herbst, 193.929 mph, 37.127 seconds
- Bubba Wallace, 193.898 mph, 37.133 seconds
- Chris Buescher, 193.621 mph, 37.186 seconds
- Cole Custer, 193.522 mph, 37.205 seconds
- Zane Smith, 193.481 mph, 37.213 seconds
- John Hunter Nemechek, 193.340 mph, 37.240 seconds
- Joey Logano, 193.252 mph, 37.257 seconds
- Ryan Blaney, 193.247 mph, 37.258 seconds
- Michael McDowell, 193.149 mph, 37.277 seconds
- Austin Dillon, 193.149 mph, 37.277 seconds
- Noah Gragson, 192.818 mph, 37.341 seconds
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 192.812 mph, 37.342 seconds
- Ty Dillon, 192.472 mph, 37.408 seconds
- AJ Allmendinger, 192.220 mph, 37.457 seconds
- Brad Keselowski, 192.123 mph, 37.476 seconds
- Ryan Preece, 191.739 mph, 37.551 seconds
- Austin Hill, 191.729 mph, 37.553 seconds
- Alex Bowman, 191.688 mph, 37.561 seconds
- Shane van Gisbergen, 191.683 mph, 37.562 seconds
- Austin Cindric, 191.149 mph, 37.667 seconds
- Ross Chastain, 191.032 mph, 37.690 seconds
- Cody Ware, 190.905 mph, 37.715 seconds
- Connor Zilisch, 190.880 mph, 37.720 seconds
- Todd Gilliland, 190.830 mph, 37.730 seconds
- JJ Yeley, 186.674 mph, 38.570 seconds
- Josh Berry, 0.000 mph, 0.000 seconds
The 2026 FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway is scheduled to occur on Sunday, June 7 at 3 p.m. ET on Prime Video, MRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
