Denny Hamlin didn’t have the greatest first practice when he and his team came to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the annual NASCAR weekend at the track.
Because of that, the time that he went out to qualify was in the middle of the pack of 46 cars that came to Indianapolis to try and make the show. It wasn’t the best time to go out on track, but as it turned out, when you have a fast car, it doesn’t matter when you go out.
Hamlin layed down his fastest lap at 49.244 seconds/182.763 mph which was a time that was almost two tenths of a better than the next closest driver.
“Darin [Grubb, Hamlin’s crew chief] has this program going in the right direction,” Hamlin said to ESPN reporters after qualifying wrapped up.
After Hamlin went out roughly half way through the Sprint Cup Series qualifying session all of the other cars couldn’t match his time.
For Hamlin, getting the pole at Indianapolis is special for his team and he feels that he has a car that could be tough to beat on Sunday for the race.
“A great day,” Hamlin said. “As a team we are really close to this racetrack. A great qualifying effort, I feel like we have a great car for tomorrow.”
The next closest driver to Hamlin was the Ford of Carl Edwards.
Edwards split the teammates of Hamlin and Joey Logano for the second starting spot, but both of those speeds were well off the speed of the pole sitter, Hamlin.
Hamlin made it a point to say that the reason for his teams recent success, after some mid-season struggles is Grubb.
“He’s done a great job with this race team,” Hamlin said.
Three drivers, Michael McDowell, Reed Sorenson and Joe Nemechek all failed to make Sunday’s race.
Curtiss Shaver 400 starting line-up:
- Denny Hamlin
- Carl Edwards
- Joey Logano
- Aric Almirola
- Greg Biffle
- Jimmie Johnson
- Kyle Busch
- Paul Menard
- Jeff Gordon
- Matt Kenseth
- Ryan Newman
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Kurt Busch
- Regan Smith
- Kasey Kahne
- Jamie McMurray
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Trevor Bayne
- Mark Martin
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Jeff Burton
- Brad Keselowski
- Marcos Ambrose
- Sam Hornish Jr.
- Casey Mears
- David Stremme
- Kevin Harvick
- Tony Stewart
- Bobby Labonte
- Travis Kvapil
- David Gilliland
- Dave Blaney
- Clint Bowyer
- Scott Speed
- Josh Wise
- David Ragan
- Stephen Leicht
- Landon Cassill
- Mike Skinner
- Scott Riggs
- J.J. Yeley
- Ken Schrader
- Mike Bliss
