Denny Hamlin has spoiled the party for his new Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) teammate, Chase Briscoe.
Hamlin captured the pole for Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, the opening event of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, preventing Briscoe from doing the crown jewel qualifying sweep, something that has never been done before.
With a lap time of 28.694 seconds (equivalent to 171.381mph), Hamlin put his SportClips Toyota Camry XSE at the top of the speed charts late in Saturday’s single-vehicle qualifying session, and eventually, claimed his 45th career pole in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“It turned. We struggled with the balance, really, all during race practice, and made some good adjustments there to go one lap, and it felt like it was really good. The SportClips Toyota did everything I needed it to do,” Hamlin told TruTV after his lap. “It’s awesome to come here and get a pole.”
It’s the second career pole for Hamlin at Darlington Raceway. Since 1991, only once before has the driver who started on the pole for the Southern 500 gone on to win the race (Kevin Harvick, 2014).
STARTING LINEUP: 2025 NCS Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington
“We’re going to have to work on it,” Hamlin added. We definitely have some work to do, no doubt about it, but starting up front is certainly a big advantage. We’ll go back, reset tonight, do a bunch of work, and we’ll be strong tomorrow.”
Chase Briscoe will line up alongside his teammate Hamlin on the front row for Sunday’s 500-mile contest. It’s the ninth front row start for Briscoe in 27 events this season.
Josh Berry will roll from third-place, in the No. 21 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Wood Brothers Racing. It’s the best starting spot for Berry on a non-superspeedway since Homestead-Miami earlier this year.
Tyler Reddick will take the green flag from fourth-place on Sunday, with Kyle Larson rounding out the top-five. Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon, and Austin Cindric rounded out the top-10.
Of the 16 drivers competing in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field, six of them failed to start inside the top-10, with William Byron (11th), Ryan Blaney (12th), Joey Logano (14th), Shane Van Gisbergen (20th), Chase Elliott (21st), and Alex Bowman (29th).
Timmy Hill, driver of the No. 66 SKELETRON.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Garage 66, will start shotgun on the field in Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500.
The Cook Out Southern 500 will take place on Sunday, August 31, 2025, at 6:00 pm ET on USA Network, Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
