By Holly Cain | NASCAR Wire Service
MARTINSVILLE, VA. – Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin claimed the Busch Light Pole Position for Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) – giving the championship contender a single-season, career-high six poles and at least the green flag advantage on the field with two races remaining to determine the NASCAR Cup Series title.
Hamlin’s No. 11 JGR Toyota turned in a lap of 98.492 mph around the historic .526-mile oval nestled among the Southern Virginia Fall foliage Saturday afternoon just bettering his JGR teammate, Ty Gibbs in the No. 45 JGR Toyota by a slight 049-second.
Five of Hamlin’s last six race victories have come from pole position and his work Saturday puts him in front of the seven drivers still mathematically title-eligible.
Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, who leads the standings by 73 points over Hamlin, will roll off third in the No. 5 Hendrick Chevrolet. Team Penske Ford teammates Austin Cindric and championship-eligible Joey Logano round out the top-five qualifiers.
“It always makes strategy easier when you’ve qualified up front,’’ said the 45-year-old Virginian, who now has six career poles at his home state track and 54 in his decorated career.
“I felt very good about it,’’ Hamlin said of the fast lap. “I knew coming off Turn four it was enough and it’s a really good feeling.’’
Hamlin has six victories at Martinsville – most among active drivers. His last came in the spring, 2025 race. He started from pole position and finished runner-up to Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott this Spring.
“That was a great lap, truthfully hit all the marks I wanted to hit and car did all the things I needed it to do on that first lap,’’ Hamlin continued. “Really great job by the race team, great adjustments there and we’ll see what we’ve got tomorrow.
“We’re going to give it all we’ve got and all we’ve got is all we’ve got. I wish I had a little bit more, but we just need to control our own destiny tomorrow and that’s getting the best day we can and let all the chips fall from there.’’
Larson won at Martinsville in 2023 and is on a streak of eight consecutive top-10 finishes here – including runner-up showings in 2022 and 2024.
“It was solid – I was hopeful for the lap time to show a little faster,’’ Larson said of his qualifying work. “Happy to start on the first couple rows and hopefully we can stay in the hunt all day.
“I think everybody else is convinced that we’re going to lock it up here this weekend but to me, I don’t look at it that way,’’ he said of the title fight. “Obviously Denny’s starting ahead of me and he’s really, really good here, and was a point away from a max points day earlier this year.
“I’m more looking at how to keep it up front to leave myself a buffer for next week. We’ll see how the race plays out but that’s kind of my mindset. But Denny’s definitely a much better short track racer than me. So just trying to stay in the hunt.
Roush Fenway Keselowski driver Ryan Preece was sixth fastest followed by Hendrick teammates Alex Bowman, defending race winner William Byron and this Spring’s Martinsville winner Chase Elliott. Wood Brothers’ driver Josh Berry rounds out the top-10.
Hamlin’s JGR teammates Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell round out the top four in the championship standings and will start 11th and 14th on the grid. They are 79 (Briscoe) and 74 (Bell) points off Larson’s pace.
