MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin claimed the pole for Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway – his career-high sixth pole of the season entering the next-to-last race of this NASCAR Cup Series chase.
Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota turned in a lap of 98.492 mph around the historic .526-mile oval on Saturday afternoon to edge his teammate, Ty Gibbs, by .049 of a second.
Five of Hamlin’s last six race victories have come from the pole position and his work Saturday puts him in front of the seven drivers still mathematically eligible to capture the NASCAR Cup Series title.
Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, who leads the standings by 73 points over Hamlin, will roll off third in the No. 5 Hendrick Chevrolet. Team Penske Ford teammates Austin Cindric and championship-eligible Joey Logano round out the top five qualifiers.
“It always makes strategy easier when you’ve qualified up front,” said Hamlin, the 45-year-old Virginian who claimed his sixth pole at Martinsville and 54th for his decorated career.
“I felt very good about it,” Hamlin said of his fast lap. “I knew coming off Turn 4 it was enough and it’s a really good feeling.”
Hamlin has six victories at Martinsville — most among active drivers. His last came on March 30, 2025. He earned the pole for the Cup Series race seven months ago at Martinsville, but finished runner-up to Chase Elliott.
“That was a great lap,” Hamlin added. “Truthfully hit all the marks I wanted to hit and car did all the things I needed it to do on that first lap. Really great job by the race team, great adjustments there and we’ll see what we’ve got tomorrow.
“We’re going to give it all we’ve got and all we’ve got is all we’ve got. I wish I had a little bit more, but we just need to control our own destiny tomorrow and that’s getting the best day we can and let all the chips fall from there.”
Larson won at Martinsville in 2023 and is on a streak of eight consecutive top-10 finishes here — including runner-up showings in 2022 and 2024. His qualifying lap took 19.3 seconds compared to Hamlin’s 19.226.
“It was solid — I was hopeful for the lap time to show a little faster,” Larson said. “Happy to start on the first couple rows and hopefully we can stay in the hunt all day.”
If Larson collects 59 points Sunday, then he clinches the championship regardless of how anyone else fares.
“I think everybody else is convinced that we’re going to lock it up here this weekend but to me, I don’t look at it that way,” Larson said. “Obviously Denny’s starting ahead of me and he’s really, really good here, and was a point away from a max-points day earlier this year.
“I’m more looking at how to keep it up front to leave myself a buffer for next week. We’ll see how the race plays out, but that’s kind of my mindset. But Denny’s definitely a much better short track racer than me. So just trying to stay in the hunt.”
Roush Fenway Keselowski driver Ryan Preece was sixth-fastest followed by Hendrick teammates Alex Bowman, defending race winner William Byron and Elliott. Wood Brothers driver Josh Berry rounds out the top 10 .
Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell, Hamlin’s JGR teammates who round out the top four in the championship standings, will start 11th and 14th on the grid. Bell sits 74 points off Larson’s pace while Briscoe trails by 79.
–NASCAR Wire Service
