Hamlin
Denny Hamlin. (HHP/Garry Eller)

Hamlin Takes Pole In Rain-Shortened Nashville Qualifying

Denny Hamlin will be on pole for Sunday’s Ally 400 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway, after a quick pop-up shower turned into a downpour, cancelling the second round of qualifying.

Click here for qualifying results.

The driver of the No. 11 Fedex Toyota topped group A with a time of 29.84 around the 1.33-mile D-shaped oval. 

“It was a great run for us,” Hamlin said. “We didn’t start off practice that stellar but with every run we made, we just kept getting better and better. Obviously today, it was even better. I thought I under-drove a little bit but still it was good enough.”

The last time Hamlin was on the pole, he wound up in victory lane in the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day Weekend. 

Team Penske’s Joey Logano, who led group B in qualifying, will start second on Sunday. 

“I really didn’t think I was that fast, that’s for sure,” Logano said. “Good changes, I guess, at least for qualifying got the car doing the right things at least for one lap. We’ll see what that means later on, but we’ll take that and we’ll go from there.”

Trouble hit in group B, when Kyle Busch got loose in turn three, spinning the car around and tapping the outside wall with his Toyota bumper. Busch was unable to complete a lap, and will start 36th tomorrow. 

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott will start 3rd and 4th, with Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez rounding out the top-five.