Hamlin gives new sponsor pole in Atlanta
As happens regularly in NASCAR, when a driver has a new sponsor (Sports Clips), Denny Hamlin bested Ryan Newman to claim his first Coors Light Pole award of the season in Saturday night’s qualifying session for the Emory Healthcare 500 Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Hamlin’s lap of 187.380 mph in the no. 11 SportsClips Toyota Camry was enough to top Newman – a seven-time Atlanta pole winner – and earn his eighth career pole and his first since last October’s race at Auto Club Speedway.
Newman retained the outside pole, while Kyle Busch qualified third with a top lap of 187.063, followed by Carl Edwards (186.881) and Tony Stewart (186.881).
Newman held the top spot early in the qualifying session after coming onto the track as the third qualifier and posting a lap of 187.070 mph and looked to have the top spot locked up until Hamlin took to the track late in the session.
Hamlin’s pole marks his best Atlanta start since 2006, but he has yet to win at the 1.5-mile track.
“It wasn’t perfect, but I knew it was a good lap," said Hamlin. “My heart was racing going down the backstretch because I knew I hit turn one pretty good. I had to check up a little in three and four to keep it on the bottom. I’m not a qualifier and any of my fans know that. I’ve been very, very happy with it. I’m typically a really bad qualifier, but I definitely think we have a heck of a race car this weekend."
Hamlin currently sits fifth in the points standings with two races remaining before the cutoff for the Chase for the Sprint Cup begins.
Although not locked into the 12-driver Chase field, Hamlin is in position to qualify for the Chase for a third straight season, and can clinch a spot in the Chase with a finish of 22nd or better in Sunday night’s race.
“Our Chase starts this weekend," said Hamlin. “We’re bringing the best stuff that we have starting right now. We’re not waiting till the Chase, we’re bringing what we have to see where we’re going to stack up, competition-wise, these next two weeks. Obviously, we brought our best stuff here. We never qualify on the pole, we never qualify in the top-10 so this is a great step and a good sign for our team.
“These next two weeks we’re bringing everything that we’ve got to the race track, the best stuff that we have and see how we’re going to stack up against the competition these next two weeks."
Losing the pole position, Newman also missed out on a chance at history, looking to beat the record set by Buddy Baker as the all-time leader in poles at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
“We got a chance to do the Goodyear tire test, which I think definitely played to our hand," said Newman. “I think we have a good race package as well. With all that being said, we are second. We will start up front and hopefully finish up there."
Martin Truex, Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya, David Ragan and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top ten qualifiers. Jason Leffler, Landon Cassill, Scott Riggs and Todd Bodine failed to qualify for the event.
Lineup
| POS | CAR | DRIVER | MAKE | SPONSOR | SPEED | TIME | BEHIND |
| 1 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | Sport Clips | 187.380 | 29.587 | Leader |
| 2 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | U.S. Army Reserve | 187.070 | 29.636 | -0.049 |
| 3 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | Pedigree | 187.064 | 29.637 | -0.050 |
| 4 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Aflac | 186.881 | 29.666 | -0.079 |
| 5 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Office Depot / Old Spice | 186.881 | 29.666 | -0.079 |
| 6 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 186.818 | 29.676 | -0.089 |
| 7 | 42 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Huggies | 186.711 | 29.693 | -0.106 |
| 8 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe's / Kobalt Tools | 186.711 | 29.693 | -0.106 |
| 9 | 6 | David Ragan | Ford | UPS | 186.692 | 29.696 | -0.109 |
| 10 | 9 | Kasey Kahne | Ford | Budweiser / Valvoline | 186.667 | 29.700 | -0.113 |
| 11 | 2 | Kurt Busch | Dodge | Miller Lite | 186.234 | 29.769 | -0.182 |
| 12 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | McDonald's | 186.171 | 29.779 | -0.192 |
| 13 | 00 | David Reutimann | Toyota | Aaron's Outdoors Mossy Oak | 186.128 | 29.786 | -0.199 |
| 14 | 33 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | BB&T | 186.040 | 29.800 | -0.213 |
| 15 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 3M Scotch-Blue Painter's Tape | 185.978 | 29.810 | -0.223 |
| 16 | 43 | A.J. Allmendinger | Ford | Insignia HDTV / Best Buy | 185.972 | 29.811 | -0.224 |
| 17 | 5 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | Carquest / GoDaddy.com | 185.238 | 29.929 | -0.342 |
| 18 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | Jeff Gordon Children's Foundation / DuPont | 184.911 | 29.982 | -0.395 |
| 19 | 98 | Paul Menard | Ford | Quaker State / Menards | 184.892 | 29.985 | -0.398 |
| 20 | 82 | Scott Speed | Toyota | Red Bull | 184.757 | 30.007 | -0.420 |
| 21 | 77 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Dodge | Mobil 1 | 184.726 | 30.012 | -0.425 |
| 22 | 19 | Elliott Sadler | Ford | Stanley | 184.671 | 30.021 | -0.434 |
| 23 | 46 | Michael McDowell | Chevrolet | Whitney Motorsports | 184.603 | 30.032 | -0.445 |
| 24 | 71 | Bobby Labonte | Chevrolet | TaxSlayer.com | 184.572 | 30.037 | -0.450 |
| 25 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | National Guard / Amp Energy | 184.437 | 30.059 | -0.472 |
| 26 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 184.431 | 30.060 | -0.473 |
| 27 | 78 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row Companies | 184.333 | 30.076 | -0.489 |
| 28 | 12 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Penske Racing | 184.290 | 30.083 | -0.496 |
| 29 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Shell / Pennzoil | 184.272 | 30.086 | -0.499 |
| 30 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Crown Royal Black | 184.186 | 30.100 | -0.513 |
| 31 | 20 | Joey Logano | Toyota | The Home Depot | 184.143 | 30.107 | -0.520 |
| 32 | 47 | Marcos Ambrose | Toyota | Little Debbie | 184.058 | 30.121 | -0.534 |
| 33 | 83 | Reed Sorenson | Toyota | Red Bull | 183.503 | 30.212 | -0.625 |
| 34 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | FrontRowJoe.com | 183.097 | 30.279 | -0.692 |
| 35 | 26 | Patrick Carpentier | Ford | Air National Guard | 183.055 | 30.286 | -0.699 |
| 36 | 37 | David Gilliland | Ford | Taco Bell | 183.043 | 30.288 | -0.701 |
| 37 | 38 | Dave Blaney | Ford | A&W All American Food | 182.982 | 30.298 | -0.711 |
| 38 | 36 | J.J. Yeley | Chevrolet | Tommy Baldwin Racing | 182.904 | 30.311 | -0.724 |
| 39 | 55 | Mike Bliss | Toyota | Prism Motorsports | 182.880 | 30.315 | -0.728 |
| 40 | 21 | Bill Elliott | Ford | FordParts.com | 182.380 | 30.398 | -0.811 |
| 41 | 13 | Casey Mears | Toyota | GEICO | 182.326 | 30.407 | -0.820 |
| 42 | 132 | Jason Leffler | Toyota | Braun Racing | 181.777 | 30.499 | -0.912 |
| 43 | 09 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | Phoenix Construction | 181.562 | 30.535 | -0.948 |
| 44 | 66 | Scott Riggs | Toyota | Prism Motorsports | 181.123 | 30.609 | -1.022 |
| 45 | 34 | Travis Kvapil | Ford | Long John Silver's | 181.111 | 30.611 | -1.024 |
| 46 | 164 | Todd Bodine | Toyota | Gunselman Motorsports | 181.029 | 30.625 | -1.038 |
| 47 | 7 | Kevin Conway* | Toyota | Extenze | 177.573 | 31.221 | -1.634 |
+ Set by Owner Points
* Denotes Rooki