Hamlin Scores the Pole in Homestead

Denny Hamlin will lead the field to the green flag for Sunday’s race. The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota won the pole with a time of 30.568 and a speed of 176.655 mph.

He commented after qualifying, saying, “Well, our car is really fast. It’s been fast all day. It was fast in race trim. We didn’t make any qualifying runs until those three sessions and we kept getting faster (than) everyone. I’m pretty optimistic. And sitting back here and watching Jeff talk and everything, it’s like, man, you know, I thought about it before, but I didn’t think about like how awesome it would be to win his final race. No disrespect to him, but man, that would be awesome to win his final race. I hope he finishes third behind Kyle.”

Team Penske’s Joey Logano will join him on the front row with a time of 30.636 and a speed of 176.263 mph.

Logano said that his qualifying effort “was not quite fast enough. It felt like after practice we didn’t get a qualifying run before the rain and it was an unknown to us. My team did a good job with the changeover to qualifying trim though and I am proud of what my team was able to do there, just wish we were a little faster in that third round.”

Kyle Busch will start his No. 18 JGR Toyota in fourth with a time of 30.671 and a speed of 176.062 mph.

“We certainly got a good qualifying run there,” Busch said. “Real proud of Adam and the guys for not making any qualifying runs. They did a good job of getting a good guess at what we needed to go out there and qualify with.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t just a tick better, but we were kind of on edge there a little bit, but overall pleased with the speed and the way that we placed right there.”

Ryan Newman will start his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in fourth with a time of 30.796 and a speed of 175.347 mph.

Jeff Gordon rounded out the top-five in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 30.806 and a speed of 175.291 mph.

Gordon stated that he’s “having a blast. It’s a win-win no matter what happens. When it goes the way it went in qualifying…man, that’s fun. How could I not be having the time of my life? We have a very strong race car in this Axalta Chevrolet, obviously, because to be able to do that the next couple of runs; I’m pretty proud of those laps. I had to make up to this team what I did on the first run, so I was glad I was able to make it up. It’s pretty awesome to get top five. I’m really happy and proud of that.”

Ryan Blaney, Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Austin Dillon rounded out the top-10.

Kevin Harvick was bounced from the final round in round 2 and will start 13th but said that he’ll “work on finding some more speed in practice tomorrow.”

Jeb Burton and Reed Sorenson failed to make the race.

Complete Starting Lineup: