Denny Hamlin backed up his stature as the current concrete ace in the NASCAR Cup Series by scoring the pole for the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway seeking his fourth consecutive won a track with that surface type.
He was the last driver to go out in the final round of time trials, on an extremely hot and slick surface, and posted a 160.354mph lap. It was good for his second pole position of 2024 and the 42nd of his decorated career.
It beat out the lap posted by Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell for the pole. Josh Berry was the fastest driver in the final round from his grouping so he will start second. Hamlin is also looking to reset his summer as he enjoyed three wins before recording three straight finishes of 24th or worse this month.
“We had to work on the balance a little bit but the speed was there,” Hamlin said. “Really happy with this team. They brought a great car today and I’m glad we were able to capitalize on it. The driver has not been very good during qualifying sessions this year. But to get a good one today, that No. 1 pit stall will help.”
Justin Haley and the Rick Ware Racing No. 51 team was penalized on Saturday morning for an unapproved adjustment that was made after the car cleared the inspection line. The league did not allow him to post a qualifying time, meaning he will start at the rear, but also does not get to pick his pit stall for the race.
NASCAR ejected car chief JR Norris for the rest of the weekend and Haley will also have to serve a pass-through penalty down pit road at the start of the race, meaning he will virtually begin at one lap down.
The starting lineup can be found below.
11 Denny Hamlin
4 Josh Berry
20 Christopher Bell
5 Kyle Larson
6 Brad Keselowski
45 Tyler Reddick
24 William Byron
54 Ty Gibbs
17 Chris Buescher
2 Austin Cindric
3 Austin Dillon
48 Alex Bowman
9 Chase Elliott
34 Michael McDowell
77 Carson Hocevar
10 Noah Gragson
19 Martin Truex Jr.
12 Ryan Blaney
14 Chase Briscoe
1 Ross Chastain
7 Corey LaJoie
41 Ryan Preece
47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
23 Bubba Wallace
21 Harrison Burton
22 Joey Logano
8 Kyle Busch
16 A.J. Allmendinger
50 Corey Heim
15 Riley Herbst
99 Daniel Suarez
38 Todd Gilliland
43 Erik Jones
42 John Hunter Nemechek
71 Zane Smith
31 Daniel Hemric
66 Chad Finchum
51 Justin Haley