Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. will lead the field to the green flag for Sunday night’s NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway (6 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The fast lap of 118.162 mph in the No. 11 JGR Toyota landed Hamlin, 43, his third Busch Light pole position of the season. It’s his fourth career pole position at the three-quarter mile track for Hamlin, who grew up in the Richmond area and is the hometown favorite this weekend. It is the 54th career pole position for the five-time Richmond winner.
Asked after the session about his work, Hamlin grinned and noted, “we were the slowest car in the first round, but the team made great adjustments and that’s the bottom line to it.
“Was I surprised it held up? Yes, I was,” Hamlin said of being the first to turn in a lap in the final session.
“He [crew chief Chris Gabehart] told me if we backed up my [first round] time we’d have a shot at it. Certainly a great job by this whole FedEx Camry team. Certainly, unexpected given the practice and first round qualifying we had.
“We just made the correct adjustments that we’re going to have to make in the race as well. I think we’re headed in the right direction.”
It is the first front row start of the season for Truex, a three-time Richmond winner who is still racing for his first trophy of the year. He’s ranked 12th in the Playoff standings 108-points up on the field with the top-16 drivers advancing to the 10-race championship.
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Josh Berry and Hendrick Motorsports Chase Elliott will start from the second row, followed by JGR’s Christopher Bell and Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon, who is making only his second top-10 start of the season.
Defending race winner, RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher qualified seventh and will start alongside 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace. Penske Racing’s Joey Logano and 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick rounded out the top-10 who advanced to the final qualifying session.
Current NASCAR Cup Series championship leader, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson will start 15th. The track’s winningest active driver Kyle Busch (six wins) will roll off 12th.
“I love winning here and to have five [wins] is certainly exciting and I feel like they have each been a little different,’’ Hamlin said, adding, “It feels good to come here and still be able to perform 20 years later.’’
A 45-minute practice session before qualifying allowed teams to try out the special “option tire” that NASCAR has made available this week. Teams have been given six sets of “prime tires” and two sets of “option tires” for use during the race.
Goodyear’s “prime” tires are a harder rubber compound with typically less grip but will last longer. The new “option” tire has a softer rubber compound offering more grip and speed but will not last as long.
“I think both the option and primary tire behaved about as we expected,’’ said Goodyear’s Director of Racing Greg Stucker, adding, “So far in the conditions we have now, we like what we see.’’
The drivers were also complimentary.
“I understand why we’re doing it and I think it was a good idea,’’ Hamlin said of the option tire.
STARTING LINEUP
Denny Hamlin
Martin Truex, Jr.
Josh Berry
Chase Elliott
Christopher Bell
Austin Dillon
Chris Buescher
Bubba Wallace
Joey Logano
Tyler Reddick
Ryan Blaney
Kyle Busch
William Byron
Ty Gibbs
Kyle Larson
Noah Gragson
Alex Bowman
Austin Cindric
Carson Hocevar
Zane Smith
Daniel Suarez
Ross Chastain
Todd Gilliland
Corey LaJoie
Chase Briscoe
Ryan Preece
Erik Jones
Michael McDowell
Brad Keselowski
Ty Dillon
Harrison Burton
Daniel Hemric
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
Riley Herbst
John Hunter Nemechek
Justin Haley
Parker Retzlaff