{"id":57083,"date":"2026-03-28T15:15:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T20:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=57083"},"modified":"2026-03-29T22:15:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T03:15:20","slug":"denny-hamlin-clinches-49th-busch-light-pole-award-at-martinsville-speedway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/28\/denny-hamlin-clinches-49th-busch-light-pole-award-at-martinsville-speedway\/","title":{"rendered":"Denny Hamlin clinches 49th\u00a0Busch Light Pole Award at Martinsville Speedway"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

MARTINSVILLE, Va. \u2013 Joe Gibbs Racing\u2019s Denny Hamlin claimed the 49th<\/sup> Busch Light Pole Position of his career Saturday afternoon, claiming the number one starting spot for Sunday\u2019s Cook Out 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Martinsville Speedway \u2013 a track where he has long established himself as one of the best.<\/p>\n

\"\"

MARTINSVILLE, VIRGINIA – MARCH 28: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Bob’s Discount Furniture Toyota, poses for photos after winning the pole award during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway on March 28, 2026 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by David Jensen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Hamlin\u2019s JGR No. 11 Toyota turned a lap of 98.241 mph around the half-mile Martinsville oval \u2013 .056-second faster than another one of the track\u2019s recent best performers, William Byron in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. They will lead the field to green on Sunday. Hamlin is racing for his second victory of the season and Byron hoping to put a Chevrolet in victory lane for the first time in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew it was possible simply from where my car was in practice,\u2019\u2019 said Hamlin who now has five career Martinsville pole awards. \u201cAny time you\u2019ve got fast lap speed in practice here that\u2019s in the top-12, you\u2019re close enough there that qualifying trim doesn\u2019t change your car that much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got enough speed to where you nail it and do a good enough job as a driver you\u2019ve got a chance at the pole, so I knew it was very possible but truthfully, I approached the lap to get in the top eight. I think I\u2019d go faster if I went and did it again right now, but I think I\u2019ll go on and stand on my time,\u2019\u2019 he added with a smile.<\/p>\n

Hamlin now ties Bobby Issac for the 10th<\/sup> most pole awards in the series history, a mark that genuinely seemed to surprise Hamlin who answered questions about it with an immediate and competitive response, \u201cwho has the next most on the list?\u2019\u2019 he was told Ryan Newman has 51.<\/p>\n

\"\"

MARTINSVILLE, VIRGINIA – MARCH 28: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Bob’s Discount Furniture Toyota, drives during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway on March 28, 2026 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by David Jensen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI never really go into any weekend thinking about qualifying on pole, it\u2019s really kind of a sidebar to how my Saturday goes,\u2019\u2019 Hamlin said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty awesome, and really, with age, the hardest part is actually still having a fast time. It\u2019s one thing to be able to manage races and use your experience to your advantage. But usually, the first thing to go is your raw speed and we\u2019re still knocking off poles, which is really good.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Wood Brothers Racing\u2019s Josh Berry was third quickest in the No. 21 Ford and will share the second row with Hamlin\u2019s JGR teammate Ty Gibbs in the No. 54 Toyota.<\/p>\n

Trackhouse Racing\u2019s Shane van Gisbergen turned an impressive oval qualifying effort with a fifth place showing in the No. 97 Chevrolet.<\/p>\n

Austin Cindric, Carson Hocevar, championship leader Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano and Chase Elliott round out the top-10 in the starting grid.<\/p>\n

Interview:<\/strong> Busch Light Pole Winner Denny Hamlin (No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) –<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. \u2013 Joe Gibbs Racing\u2019s Denny Hamlin claimed the 49th Busch Light Pole Position of his career Saturday afternoon, claiming the number one starting spot for Sunday\u2019s Cook Out 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Martinsville Speedway \u2013 a track where he has long […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":57070,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[41,407,16],"class_list":["post-57083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-denny-hamlin","tag-martinsville-speedway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2268797113-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-eQH","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57083"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57113,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57083\/revisions\/57113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}