Hamlin beats Almirola to NASCAR Cup pole at Talladega

Hamlin, one of the last cars to go out in the final round of qualifying, posted an average lap speed of 180.751 mph - the fastest lap of the day – and held on to win the pole for Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

The pole is the first of the 2023 season for Hamlin, 37th of his career and – remarkably – the first in his career on a superspeedway.

"That's the first one for sure, I was well aware," Hamlin said of winning his first pole on a superspeedway track. "Last year was a great opportunity because all the Toyotas qualified really well on the superspeedways. That was kind of the nature of the (car) bodies that we submitted to NASCAR. So, we knew we'd be fast on these types of race tracks.

"When we re-submitted this year, I think we got more of a balance, and we knew it would slow us up some on these types of tracks. Toyota and those guys continue to make advancements and we get a little faster."

Asked about the advantages, if any, of starting on the pole at a place like Talladega, Hamlin said: "I would say that qualifying on the pole means my car is very capable of being fast leading. I haven't been fast in the Next Gen era while leading superspeedways. So, that gives me the confidence that we should be able to lead the pack and make it harder for them to pass us."

Ford driver Aric Almirola will line up second (180.642 mph) and Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Ty Gibbs, was third (180.594 mph).

Ford drivers Chase Briscoe and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top-five.

Completing the top-10 lineup are Christopher Bell, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Kyle Larson (the lone Chevrolet in the top-10) and Chris Buescher.

#	Driver		Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	2	52.979			180.751
2	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	2	53.011	0.032	0.032	180.642
3	54	Ty Gibbs	Toyota	2	53.025	0.046	0.014	180.594
4	14	Chase Briscoe	Ford	2	53.085	0.106	0.060	180.390
5	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	2	53.124	0.145	0.039	180.258
6	20	Christopher Bell	Toyota	2	53.245	0.266	0.121	179.848
7	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	2	53.281	0.302	0.036	179.726
8	22	Joey Logano	Ford	2	53.299	0.320	0.018	179.666
9	5	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	2	53.302	0.323	0.003	179.656
10	17	Chris Buescher	Ford	2	53.303	0.324	0.001	179.652

Round 1

Fords and Toyotas dominated the first round of qualifying with Ford driver Briscoe with the fastest average speed (179.730 mph).

Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Gibbs (179.689 mph) and Hamlin (179.635 mph) ended up second and third respectively.

Almirola was fourth and Truex fifth.

Also advancing to the final round were Blaney, Logano, Bell, Buescher and Larson, driving the only Chevrolet in the top-10.

Among those who failed to advance to the final round were Kevin Harvick, Tyler Reddick, Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and three Hendrick Motorsports cars – William Byron, Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott.

Austin Cindric qualified 15th but will have to start Sunday’s race from the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to his No. 2 Penske Ford.

11	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	2	53.455	0.175	0.015	179.141
12	23	Bubba Wallace	Toyota	2	53.470	0.190	0.015	179.091
13	45	Tyler Reddick	Toyota	2	53.496	0.216	0.026	179.004
14	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	2	53.497	0.217	0.001	179.001
15	2	Austin Cindric	Ford	2	53.499	0.219	0.002	178.994
16	41	Ryan Preece	Ford	2	53.509	0.229	0.010	178.961
17	8	Kyle Busch	Chevrolet	2	53.548	0.268	0.039	178.830
18	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	2	53.559	0.279	0.011	178.793
19	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	2	53.568	0.288	0.009	178.763
20	6	Brad Keselowski	Ford	2	53.611	0.331	0.043	178.620
21	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	2	53.629	0.349	0.018	178.560
22	99	Daniel Suarez	Chevrolet	2	53.651	0.371	0.022	178.487
23	1	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	2	53.671	0.391	0.020	178.420
24	43	Erik Jones	Chevrolet	2	53.693	0.413	0.022	178.347
25	21	Harrison Burton	Ford	2	53.695	0.415	0.002	178.341
26	31	Justin Haley	Chevrolet	2	53.745	0.465	0.050	178.175
27	48	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	2	53.750	0.470	0.005	178.158
28	36	Todd Gilliland	Ford	2	53.849	0.569	0.099	177.831
29	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	2	53.874	0.594	0.025	177.748
30	42	Noah Gragson	Chevrolet	2	53.902	0.622	0.028	177.656
31	62	Austin Hill	Chevrolet	2	53.973	0.693	0.071	177.422
32	77	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	2	54.033	0.753	0.060	177.225
33	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Chevrolet	2	54.039	0.759	0.006	177.205
34	7	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	2	54.059	0.779	0.020	177.140
35	38	Zane Smith	Ford	2	54.063	0.783	0.004	177.127
36	15	Riley Herbst	Ford	2	54.106	0.826	0.043	176.986
37	78	B.J. McLeod	Chevrolet	2	54.297	1.017	0.191	176.363
38	51	J.J. Yeley	Ford	2	54.424	1.144	0.127	175.952

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