The Latest Breaking News from Denny Hamlin

William Byron, currently second in the series standings, saved his best for the last round and won the pole for Sunday’s race.

The top six average lap speeds in Saturday’s practice came from Group B led by Reddick’s lap at 168.596 mph.

ATLANTA — Chase Elliott could use a hug. The kind of warm, understanding embrace you can get only at home. The kind that makes everything OK again. That and some unimpeded horsepower would be nice for Georgia’s own Elliott during Sunday night’s Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The future of the three-time Supercars champion has been a hot topic for some time, based largely on his dissatisfaction with the new Gen3 cars.

With continued heavy rain and localized flooding throughout the day on Sunday, NASCAR has placed the scheduled 5 p.m. ET start of the inaugural Chicago Street Race on hold.

Hamlin’s very productive career, road courses have never been his strong suit. His lone victory – he has 49 in his career – came at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International in the 2016 season.

The 34-year-old New Zealander is making his NASCAR Cup Series debut this weekend, driving a third entry for the Trackhouse Racing team.

The Xfinity Series’ Loop 121 race never really got anywhere before being postponed due to weather. As for the main race — the Grant Park 220 — Cup Series drivers had some gripes after qualifying.

“The sooner we just kind of understand the gravity of the event and not get too caught up in the on-track stuff,” Hamlin said, “the better we’re going to be.”