LAS VEGAS — Denny Hamlin led a Joe Gibbs Racing sweep of the top three qualifying positions for Sunday’s South Point 400 playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (5:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
Hamlin’s No. 11 JGR Toyota claimed the Busch Light Pole Award on Saturday afternoon with a lap of 184.849 mph around the 1.5-mile Vegas high banks — just bettering teammates Chase Briscoe in the No. 19 Toyota and Christopher Bell in the No. 20 Toyota Camry. All three are current NASCAR Cup Series playoff drivers. It was Hamlin’s first pole at Las Vegas.
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And it’s the second time this season Toyota has swept the top three qualifying spots — the last time was at Indianapolis during the summer, when the make swept the top five. It was the 25th time in Toyota’s history that it swept the top three starting positions on the grid.
“I felt good about it, truthfully,” said Hamlin, the 2021 Las Vegas playoff race winner and the current championship leader. “There wasn’t a whole lot left out there for it. But a great job by this team to get my car good. It was good in the short run in practice as well, got to work on it for the long run for tomorrow.
“But Saturday [qualifying] has always been our Achilles heel at this race track and that’s a great way to turn that around.”
Heavy winds affected both practice and qualifying sessions, with drivers reporting substantial headwinds on the backstretch.
The eight playoff drivers starting this three-race penultimate round of competition all had solid qualifying performances. However, beyond the Gibbs front trio, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott was fourth quickest, followed by his Hendrick Chevrolet teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson — a three-time winner in Sin City.
Reigning series champion and defending Las Vegas playoff race winner, Joey Logano, was ninth fastest in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford. His teammate, 2023 series champ Ryan Blaney, will roll off from the 14th on the grid.
Ross Chastain was fastest in Group A from practice, but his No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet brushed the wall and the team spent the closing minutes of the session repairing it before qualifying. He will start 15th. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs, who ended up fastest overall in practice, will start 10th on Sunday.
Gibbs fastest in practice
Ty Gibbs topped the leaderboard Saturday afternoon in practice at 181.733 mph over Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron (181.172 mph) and Chase Elliott (180.953 mph).
Denny Hamlin (180.741 mph) and Bubba Wallace (180.560 mph) rounded out the top five.
MORE: Practice results
Tyler Reddick (180.475 mph), Chase Briscoe (180.385 mph), Ross Chastain (180.288 mph), Kyle Larson (179.922 mph) and Christopher Bell (179.874 mph) completed the top 10.
Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet had the best 5-, 10-, 15-, 20-, 25- and 30-lap averages. The only two playoff drivers outside of the top 10 were from Team Penske, as Ryan Blaney (179.104 mph) was 17th and Joey Logano (178.094 mph) was 28th.
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