Denny Hamlin missed the Championship cut several weeks back. But on Friday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway, he showed he wants to be a spoiler in the Championship round.
Hamlin took the track late in the final round of qualifying, and powered to the pole for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season ending Ford EcoBoost 400.
Hamlin turned his final lap with a lap at 31.059 at 173.863 mph to bump his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate – and Championship 4 member – Kyle Busch from the top spot.
It’s the 39th pole of Hamlin’s MENCS career, and his fourth of the season.
“It’s big for us to get this race team up front here,” Hamlin said. “We definitely want to end on a high note and try to win. 2013 we were in the same predicament where we hadn’t won a race until the final race and we got it done, so hopefully it’s our time to do it. We’re going to keep digging.
“Hats off to this team. We were hanging around that seventh to tenth the first couple of rounds and they just – (Mike) “Wheels” (Wheeler, crew chief) made the right adjustments.”
Kyle Busch will lead the Championship contenders on Sunday, as he qualified second with a lap at 173.622 mph.
“The first run was really good obviously and then the second run was okay and the third run I thought we made the right adjustments and hit the right line and did a good job with everything,” said Busch. “I guess we didn’t have enough speed there. Overall, pleased with the effort today and the guys did a good job. The car felt pretty good.”
Martin Truex, Jr. will start from the third starting spot in his search for a second straight Cup championship – and the final race for Furniture Row Racing, which is closing up shop at the end of the year.
“We were a little too free on that final run,” Truex, Jr. said. “I tried to gain a little bit more but I just couldn’t quite finish getting the throttle down and I think I lost a little bit there. It was a good day. Great effort by the guys. Nice, smooth solid day, which is what we needed. We go win this thing from there and we’ll get to work tomorrow.”
Championship contender Joey Logano will roll off from the fifth starting spot.
“Our qualifying was just okay,” said Logano. “We had a rough start the first couple of runs in practice and made a good change for the third run in the practice, and some good changes from practice to qualifying. That put us in a good spot to go out here and bust out a decent lap and we did in the first round. The second round we got a little off and the third round we were just too loose off of turn two. I think that is where most of the speed was. I will have to go back and look at it and look at some notes and see if I can learn a little bit for next year.
“At this point it is behind us and we will think about tomorrow and getting the car good for the race.”
Kevin Harvick was the slowest of the title contenders throughout qualifying, ending up as the slowest overall in the final round with a 12th place starting effort.
“We qualified 12th, not last,” Harvick said. “It is not that big of a deal if we can get our car driving right for Sunday. We didn’t qualify well here last year either and hadn’t really drove well in qualifying trim all day today. We just have to get it driving right for Sunday.”
Kyle Busch led the first round of qualifying, with Logano in second and Truex, Jr. in third. Meanwhile, former title contenders Clint Bowyer and William Byron failed to make the top 24 to move on to Round 2.
In the second round, it was Erik Jones outpacing Truex, Jr. and Busch, while Alex Bowman, Dawsonville, Georgia’s Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Jimmie Johnson among those failing to make the top 12.
WDUN will have live MRN Radio coverage of the NASCAR season finale race weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, beginning with Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series Ford EcoBoost 300 beginning at 3 pm on 102.9 FM and streaming live on AccessWDUN. Action continues on Sunday with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 beginning at 1:30 pm on 102.9 FM and streaming live on AccessWDUN.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Homestead-Miami Speedway – Homestead, FL
Ford EcoBoost 400 – November 16, 2018
Friday’s Qualifying Results
1. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 173.863 mph.
2. (18) Kyle Busch (P), Toyota, 173.622 mph.
3. (78) Martin Truex, Jr. (P), Toyota, 173.539 mph.
4. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 173.433 mph.
5. (22) Joey Logano (P), Ford, 173.366 mph.
6. (41) Kurt Busch, Ford, 172.535 mph.
7. (20) Erik Jones, Toyota, 172.507 mph.
8. (31) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 172.430 mph.
9. (17) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Ford, 172.403 mph.
10. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford, 172.353 mph.
11. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 172.029 mph.
12. (4) Kevin Harvick (P), Ford, 171.942 mph.
13. (88) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 172.529 mph.
14. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 172.518 mph.
15. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 172.276 mph.
16. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 172.243 mph.
17. (6) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 172.199 mph.
18. (19) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 172.002 mph.
19. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 171.953 mph.
20. (47) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 171.559 mph.
21. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 171.527 mph.
22. (21) Paul Menard, Ford, 171.369 mph.
23. (43) Darrell Wallace, Jr. #, Chevrolet, 171.027 mph.
24. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford, 170.708 mph.
25. (38) David Ragan, Ford, 172.013 mph.
26. (14) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 171.827 mph.
27. (37) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 171.233 mph.
28. (24) William Byron #, Chevrolet, 170.800 mph.
29. (32) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 170.498 mph.
30. (95) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 169.715 mph.
31. (13) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 169.651 mph.
32. (00) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 168.951 mph.
33. (23) J.J. Yeley(i), Ford, 167.198 mph.
34. (72) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 167.002 mph.
35. (99) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 166.898 mph.
36. (51) B.J. McLeod(i), Ford, 164.424 mph.
37. (97) Tanner Berryhill, Toyota, 162.955 mph.
38. (66) Timmy Hill(i), Toyota, 161.609 mph.
39. (15) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
