Denny Hamlin beats Kyle Larson to Gateway NASCAR Cup pole

For the 46th time in his career and the third time this year, Denny Hamlin will lead the NASCAR Cup field to the green flag. With a lap of 32.330s, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver bested Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson by 0.021s for the top spot.

“No, not really,” said Hamlin when asked if it felt like a pole lap inside the race car. “I thought I could have done a little bit better job for the team. Proud of Chris [Gayle, crew chief] and the guys, making great adjustments. That’s what they did so well last week, making those good adjustments for qualifying. We got great track position — we just got to maintain it and we’ll be in good shape.

Chase Briscoe, who locked himself into the Round of 12 with a dominant victory in the Southern 500, qualified third. Ross Chastain and Ryan Blaney filled out the remainder of the top ten.

William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Austin Cindric, and Zane Smith rounded out the top ten. Smith, who held provisional pole for much of the session, was the highest-qualifying driver not inside the title hunt.

The rest of the playoff drivers

Other playoff drivers starting deeper in the field include Josh Berry in 12th, Joey Logano 13th, Bubba Wallace 14th, Austin Dillon 15th, Shane van Gisbergen 18th, Chase Elliott 19th, and Alex Bowman 25th. Bowman, who sits at the bottom of the standings, was also the worst-qualifying playoff driver one week ago.

Berry, Logano, Dillon, and Bowman all enter this race below the cutline after a difficult playoff opener at Darlington.

There were no incidents during the session, but Cindric, who is the defending winner of the event, scrubbed the wall in both practice and qualifying at the exit of Turn 2.