FedEx driver wins pole for FedEx 400

FedEx driver Denny Hamlin wins pole for FedEx 400

Only in NASCAR. FedEx driver Denny Hamlin rolled to the Coors Light Pole Award in Friday afternoon's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying at Dover International Speedway for the FedEx 400

Hamlin drove the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota to a fast lap of 160.121 mph on the 1-mile concrete oval. He'll start first in Sunday's FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks (1 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM).

The pole position was Hamlin's first of the season, third at the Monster Mile and 21st of his Sprint Cup career. The pole-winning lap was significantly slower than the track qualifying record of 164.444 mph set by Brad Keselowski in May.

"It's great," said Hamlin, who also won the Dover pole in September 2012 and May 2013. "Obviously our car's shown speed all day long, which is something that we haven't had lately, so we're kind of building and getting a little bit better and starting to figure out our setups and whatnot. So we're getting better and obviously this kind of shows it."

Martin Truex Jr., second in the Sprint Cup standings, will share Sunday's front row in the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Chevrolet after notching the second-fastest lap at 159.723 mph. Kyle Larson, Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano completed the top five.

Defending Sprint Cup champion and current points leader Kevin Harvick qualified sixth-fastest in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet. Kyle Busch, making just his second start of the season in points-paying races since returning from serious leg injuries in a February crash at Daytona, earned the 10th starting spot in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota.

Some big names were left out of later qualifying rounds at the two elimination stages in the three-round format. Jimmie Johnson, a nine-time Dover winner in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet, was among them. After leading opening Sprint Cup practice earlier in the day, he posted just the 14th-fastest lap in Round 2, failing to make the final cut to determine the top 12 starters.

"I think, in a sense, we maybe didn't make the changes we need to or thought we needed to change, because the car had so much speed in that first practice session, but it's a totally different race track," Johnson said. "And we tried to plan ahead and made some small changes, but it wasn't enough."

Kurt Busch was also in that unfortunate group, making just the 13th-best lap to miss the cut for the final, five-minute round.

Keselowski was the final driver to make the cut after Round 1, edging Kasey Kahne by .005 seconds for the 24th spot. The Team Penske driver ended up qualifying 19th. Three-time Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart also just missed the cut, posting the 26th-fastest lap.

Jeff Green and Travis Kvapil failed to qualify for the 43-car field.

Sprint Cup drivers will have their final chance to tune up for Sunday's 400-miler in a pair of practice sessions Saturday (10-10:55 a.m. ET and 1-1:55 p.m. ET, FS1).

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Cares Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Starting Position: 1st

What does it mean to get the pole this weekend in Dover?

“It’s so special especially during FedEx 400 weekend. The FedEx Cares is about the employees – the 70,000 hours that they spend volunteering all over the world to help people in need, so this is part of that program and Autism Speaks is on the car once again. So, I’m proud of the efforts of our race team. We came here and we tested and we felt pretty good about it and my team just brought me another fast Camry."

Is it important to get the number one pit box here at Dover?

“It will pay off for sure. I was really more optimistic with our race trim than what I was with our qualifying so I’m very optimistic that hopefully we can put this FedEx Cares Camry in victory lane where it belongs on Sunday."

What does it mean to start Sunday’s race as the pole sitter?

“It’s great. Obviously our car has shown speed all day long, which is something we haven’t had lately, so we’re kind of building and getting a little bit better and starting to figure out our setups. We’re getting better and obviously this kind of shows it. Looks like all of our cars were in the top-10, so pretty optimistic. I felt like a lot of the speed came from the tire test that we had here, we were able to try some new things. Obviously I feel like we have gotten our cars better and really the setups we have developed have been quite a bit different."

What has made a difference in allowing you to win so many poles at Dover in recent years?

“Well, we still haven’t won here, but we’ve been more competitive for sure. Whatever it is about the qualifying here, it just seems to suit myself and my driving style. We’ve qualified well here in the past, but haven’t always raced that well. I’m pretty confident come Sunday, we’ll be contenders. Really just from the extra laps that I got here from the test is what gives me that confidence. I think overall we’re just clicking away and getting a little bit better as the season goes and this is a good sign."

Lineup

POS. CAR # DRIVER SPONSOR SPEED TIME BEHIND
1 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Cares 160.121 22.483 Leader
2 78 Martin Truex Jr Furniture Row/Visser Precision 159.723 22.539 –0.056
3 42 Kyle Larson Target 159.681 22.545 –0.062
4 20 Matt Kenseth Dollar General 159.674 22.546 –0.063
5 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil 159.596 22.557 –0.074
6 4 Kevin Harvick Ditech 159.497 22.571 –0.088
7 16 Greg Biffle Safety-Kleen Ford Fusion 159.483 22.573 –0.090
8 19 Carl Edwards Stanley 159.229 22.609 –0.126
9 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Ford EcoBoost Ford Fusion 159.046 22.635 –0.152
10 18 Kyle Busch Skittles 158.975 22.645 –0.162
11 1 Jamie McMurray McDonald's/Cessna 158.709 22.683 –0.200
12 3 Austin Dillon Dow 158.290 22.743 –0.260
13 41 Kurt Busch Haas Automation 158.891 22.657 –0.174
14 48 Jimmie Johnson LOWE'S PRO SERVICES 158.814 22.668 –0.185
15 55 David Ragan Aaron's Dream Machine 158.660 22.690 –0.207
16 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr Nationwide 158.479 22.716 –0.233
17 31 Ryan Newman Caterpillar 158.263 22.747 –0.264
18 27 Paul Menard Pittsburgh Paints / Menards 158.172 22.760 –0.277
19 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite 158.165 22.761 –0.278
20 15 Clint Bowyer AAA Insurance 158.144 22.764 –0.281
21 13 Casey Mears No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS 158.096 22.771 –0.288
22 24 Jeff Gordon 3M 158.082 22.773 –0.290
23 43 Aric Almirola Smithfield 158.082 22.773 –0.290
24 51 Justin Allgaier AccuDoc Solutions/FOE 157.687 22.830 –0.347
25 5 Kasey Kahne FARMERS 158.270 22.746 –0.263
26 14 Tony Stewart Code 3 Associates / Mobil 1 158.082 22.773 –0.290
27 33 Brian Scott ACME 158.040 22.779 –0.296
28 9 Sam Hornish Jr Twisted Tea 157.673 22.832 –0.349
29 47 AJ Allmendinger Scott Products 157.660 22.834 –0.351
30 7 Alex Bowman TBA 157.301 22.886 –0.403
31 6 Trevor Bayne Advocare Ford Fusion 157.123 22.912 –0.429
32 38 David Gilliland The Pete Store 157.054 22.922 –0.439
33 10 Danica Patrick GoDaddy 156.658 22.980 –0.497
34 46 Michael Annett Pilot Flying J 156.638 22.983 –0.500
35 26 Jeb Burton Maxim Fantasy Sports 156.624 22.985 –0.502
36 83 Matt DiBenedetto Burger King 155.750 23.114 –0.631
37 35 Cole Whitt TBD 155.139 23.205 –0.722
38 34 Brett Moffitt Dockside Logistics 154.533 23.296 –0.813
39 98 Josh Wise TBA 154.440 23.310 –0.827
40 23 J.J. Yeley Dr. Pepper 154.228 23.342 –0.859
41 62 Brendan Gaughan TBA 153.551 23.445 –0.962
42 32 Mike Bliss CorvetteParts.net 153.381 23.471 –0.988
43 40 Landon Cassill CRC Brakleen 152.678 23.579 –1.096