Denny Hamlin Earns 40th Career NASCAR Cup Series Pole at Watkins Glen

Before the start of this year, Denny Hamlin had only scored two road course poles in his NASCAR Cup Series career. But now, after scoring the pole for Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has this season alone.

Posting a stellar time of 70.392 seconds (125.298mph), Hamlin blasted to the 40th NASCAR Cup Series pole of his career, after putting down two incredible runs in the final round of qualifying.

Hamlin, who was the first driver to hit the track in the final round, maintained control of the top spot on the leaderboard throughout the entire 10-minute round, including a second run for good measure, which netted an even faster lap.

William Byron will start Sunday’s 90-lap contest from second place, while Indianapolis winner Michael McDowell picked up a third-place result in Saturday’s time trial session. Ty Gibbs and Kyle Larson will complete the top five.

AJ Allmendinger showed strong speed in practice, but wound up qualifying in sixth place for Kaulig Racing, while Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch, and Corey LaJoie completed the top-10.

For LaJoie, who scored the pole in Friday’s ARCA Menards Series event at the 2.45-mile road course, the 10th-place starting spot is the best qualifying effort of his career, and the best in the history of Spire Motorsports at NASCAR’s top-level.

Bubba Wallace will start 12th on Sunday, as he enters the penultimate event of the NASCAR Cup Series regular season on the cutline. Chase Elliott, the most notable driver sitting in a must-win situation, will start from 15th.

Other notable drivers that qualified outside the top-10, include Joey Logano (11th), Chris Buescher (13th), Alex Bowman (18th), Martin Truex, Jr. (19th), Ross Chastain (22nd), Ryan Blaney (23rd), Brad Keselowski (24th), and Kevin Harvick (34th).

Mike Rockenfeller, making his second of two scheduled starts as an interim driver for LEGACY MOTOR CLUB, qualified a career-high 21st at the 2.45-mile road course, after being the seventh-quickest driver in Group A.

Rounding out the 36-driver field for Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen is Ty Dillon, who despite having top-25 speed in practice, was the only driver to post a lap in the 72-second-bracket in time trials.

Qualifying Results – 2023 NASCAR Cup Go Bowling at The Glen

Qualifying Results: NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling at The Glen