LAS VEGAS — Denny Hamlin bests qualifying ace Chase Briscoe and wins the pole for the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Hamlin set a time of 29.213 seconds, narrowly emerging ahead of his teammate Chase Briscoe for his fourth pole this season and his 47th pole of his career.
Photo: Jonathan Fjeld/TRE
Hamlin will start his Round of 8 on a positive note to try and capture his elusive first NASCAR Cup Series championship.
“I felt good about the lap truthfully, the car was good in the short run in practice and now we’ve got to work on the long run,” Hamlin said after his qualifying run.
Hamlin admitted that Saturdays have been their “Achilles heal” at Las Vegas. That sentiment set the tone for previous weekends at the speedway and now he finally righted that wrong.
Though there is still more work for that team to do, as Hamlin explained, “There are so many transitions from Saturday to Sunday, even to the end of Sunday. having to deal with that has always been a challenge a this racetrack.”
How the rest of the Round of 8 Drivers Lineup
Christopher Bell joins his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates a row behind in third, marking the organizations first 1,2,3 start since 2020. Joining him in the second row and starting fourth will be the most recent intermediate winner, Chase Elliott.
William Byron starts in fifth, teammate Kyle Larson starts alongside him in sixth to defend his spring Las Vegas win.
The pair of recently eliminated teammates Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick will start together on the fourth row, seventh and eighth respectively.
Photo: Jonathan Fjeld/TRE
Photo: Jonathan Fjeld/TRE
Team Penske improved from their slow practice runs, though they are still lagging behind their Round of 8 competitors. Joey Logano took a leap forward from practice as he starts ninth. Ryan Blaney only marginally improved and will start 14th, the last of the current playoff drivers.
Finally, Ty Gibbs rounds out the top ten and continues his strong form from the earlier practice session.
NASCAR Cup Series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Lineup and Qualifying Results
- Denny Hamlin 29.213
- Chase Briscoe 29.249
- Christopher Bell 29.255
- Chase Elliott 29.259
- William Byron 29.304
- Kyle Larson 29.328
- Bubba Wallace 29.401
- Tyler Reddick 29.413
- Joey Logano 29.421
- Ty Gibbs 29.454
- Chris Buescher 29.537
- Alex Bowman 29.540
- Shane Van Gisbergen 29.586
- Ryan Blaney 29.592
- Ross Chastain 29.594
- Ryan Preece 29.626
- Daniel Suarez 29.645
- Michael McDowell 29.647
- Erik Jones 29.679
- AJ Allmendinger 29.690
- Cole Custer 29.693
- Carson Hocevar 29.703
- Zane Smith 29.720
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 29.765
- Austin Dillon 29.779
- John Hunter Nemechek 29.779
- Justin Haley 29.779
- Noah Gragson 29.862
- Josh Berry 29.909
- Todd Gilliland 30.022
- Austin Cindric 30.089
- Kyle Busch 30.090
- Riley Herbst 30.147
- Brad Keselowski 30.210
- Ty Dillon 30.321
- Cody Ware 30.627
- J.J. Yeley 30.661
- Katherine Legge 31.644
Ty Gibbs fastest in NASCAR Cup Series Practice from Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Photo: Ryan Kemna/TRE
Ty Gibbs set the fastest lap in Cup Series practice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. His 29.714 second lap was nearly a tenth up on the fastest Round of 8 competitor in William Byron, who put up a 29.806 second time.
Byron also showed the most promise in the lap averages chart. He came away from the session as the fastest from the five lap running speed onwards.
While Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing playoff drivers filled six of the top ten timeslots, Team Penske lacked the raw speed necessary to compete so far.
The Round of 8 Penske duo of Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano found themselves in 17th and 28th at the end of the session. Both drivers came down pit road in the middle of the session to find some answers to their lack of pace.
The most recent drivers bounced out of the playoffs had strong showings. Ross Chastain lead the first practice group on time, finishing the complete session in eighth. Though he did find the outside wall late in the group A session. The team made swift repairs and will qualify.
The 23XI teammates of Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick ended up fifth and sixth as well and look to steal a playoff win from the rest of the Round of 8 at the final intermediate race of the season.