JOLIET, Il. — Denny Hamlin will continue to lead the Cup Series starting lineup as the series returns to Chicagoland Speedway.
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The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has won the pole at the 1.5-mile track after posting a lap of 30.296 seconds. This marks his fourth straight oval race starting from the pole position and the third time winning it outright. He started from the pole at Nashville Superspeedway after weather shut down qualifying.
Kyle Larson qualified second with a lap of 30.297 seconds. This marks his fourth time starting inside the top 10 at Chicagoland Speedway and his first time starting on the front row.
MORE: Chicagoland Speedway Starting Lineup
The rest of the top 10 included Chris Buescher (30.311), Brad Keselowski (30.322), Ty Gibbs (30.323), Christopher Bell (30.398), Chase Briscoe (30.399), Bubba Wallace (30.420), Chase Elliott (30.424), and William Byron (30.472).
According to TNT Sports, Michael McDowell did not qualify for Sunday's Cup Series race. His No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet failed inspection three times. This meant that he lost pit stall selection and the ability to qualify. He will also serve a pass-through penalty at the start of the race.
This qualifying effort, which moved Hamlin past Ryan Newman for the ninth-most poles in Cup Series history, surprised the veteran driver. He did not expect to have a great qualifying effort after struggling during Friday evening's practice session.
"I gotta be honest with you, I got extremely lucky," Hamlin said after the session. "Anyone who goes out now would beat me.
"We just got lucky that these last 12 guys just got stuck in the sun and this track is definitely a very temperature-sensitive track, it gets a little bit of sun on it, and it just slows way up."
The last three times that Hamlin has started from the pole this season, he has won. He started first and won at Nashville Superspeedway. One week later, he started from the pole and won at Michigan International Speedway. He then started first at Pocono Raceway and won.
The first Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway since 2019 will take place on Sunday evening. TNT will provide coverage at 6 p.m. ET with Adam Alexander, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Steve Letarte in the booth.
