Hamlin secures pole position at Martinsville, marking his 10th in NASCAR history.
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Denny Hamlin secured his fifth pole position at Martinsville Speedway and the 49th of his Cup Series career, placing him in a tie with NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Isaac for 10th on the all-time list.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver clocked a lap at 98.241 mph on Saturday in the No. 11 Toyota, surpassing William Byron, whose No. 24 Chevrolet qualified second at 97.957 mph for the upcoming 400-lap race.
Following his victory two weeks ago at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Hamlin, 45, moved ahead of Kevin Harvick for 10th place on the all-time win list in NASCAR’s top series. He is just two poles shy of matching Ryan Newman’s career total, recognized as one of the finest qualifiers in NASCAR history.
“It’s pretty awesome,” remarked Hamlin, who was raised a few hours east of Martinsville in Chesterfield, Virginia. “As you age, the toughest part is maintaining the fast times. It’s one thing to manage races and leverage your experience, but typically, the first thing to diminish is outright speed, and we are still securing poles, which is excellent. I remember when Newman was unbeatable in qualifying. Wow, I didn’t realize he had that many.”
Hamlin has achieved six victories at Martinsville, and his win last season ended a 10-year winless streak at the 0.526-mile track.
Byron claimed the most recent race at Martinsville last October and has triumphed in three of the last eight races there.
“I believe our race car is going to perform very well tomorrow,” stated the Hendrick Motorsports driver, whose previous best starting position this season was ninth at Phoenix and Las Vegas. “We’ve gained a lot of insights this year. Saturdays have been challenging for us this season and not as consistent as we would prefer.”
Josh Berry qualified third, followed by Ty Gibbs and Shane van Gisbergen.
Brad Keselowski, who is set to make his 600th career start on Sunday, qualified 23rd.
Source: espn.com
