MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Denny Hamlin headed to Martinsville Speedway with the knowledge that he needed a clutch performance to give himself a chance to win the Cup Series championship.
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He took the first step on Saturday afternoon by winning the pole for the sixth time at the track. He did so with a lap of 19.226 seconds. This marked the sixth time this season that Hamlin has won the pole, a new career-best for the veteran.
MORE: Martinsville Cup Series Starting Lineup
"I felt very, very good about it," Hamlin said about his lap. "I knew... I mean, it was good enough to where I didn't even, I did not need to see a lap time.
"I knew coming off Turn 4, it was enough. And so, yeah, and so that's a really good feeling. And so again, I'm just the jockey on the horse that made today happen."
Hamlin's teammate, Ty Gibbs, qualified second for Sunday's Cup Series race (2 p.m. ET on NBC). He posted a lap of 19.275 seconds and secured his 25th top-10 start of the season.
Point leader Kyle Larson qualified third with a lap of 19.300 seconds. The rest of the top 10 included Austin Cindric (19.325), Joey Logano (19.330), Ryan Preece (19.343), Alex Bowman (19.354), William Byron (19.368), Chase Elliott (19.379), and Josh Berry (19.380).
"Happy to start in the first couple of rows," said Larson, who has a 73-point lead over Hamlin with two races remaining. "Hopefully, we can stay in the hunt all day."
Hamlin, Gibbs, Larson, Cindric, Logano, Preece, Byron, and Elliott were the only Chase drivers with spots in the top 10. Chase Briscoe was the closest after qualifying 11th (19.382).
The other Chase drivers included Tyler Reddick in 12th (19.394), Ryan Blaney in 13th (19.414), Christopher Bell in 14th (19.416), Bubba Wallace in 15th (19.433), Chris Buescher in 18th (19.457), Daniel Suarez in 24th (19.537), and Carson Hocevar in 25th (19.540).
The Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway will take place on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. NBC will provide coverage with Leigh Diffey, Steve Letarte, and Jeff Burton in the booth.
