{"id":20953,"date":"2018-08-04T19:50:33","date_gmt":"2018-08-05T00:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=20953"},"modified":"2018-08-04T20:28:03","modified_gmt":"2018-08-05T01:28:03","slug":"denny-hamlin-charges-to-provisional-pole-at-watkins-glen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/04\/denny-hamlin-charges-to-provisional-pole-at-watkins-glen\/","title":{"rendered":"Denny Hamlin charges to provisional pole at Watkins Glen"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. \u2013 Denny Hamlin<\/strong> blitzed the Watkins Glen<\/strong> road course with the fastest lap of the day on Saturday to win the provisional pole for Sunday\u2019s Go Bowling at the Glen<\/strong> (3 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), pending post-qualifying inspection on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Ground Toyota, poses for a photo after winning the Pole Award during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series GoBowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International on August 4, 2018 in Watkins Glen, New York. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Hamlin covered the 2.45-mile distance in 70.260 seconds (125.534 mph), edging Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch (125.427 mph) by .060 seconds. First-round leader Chase Elliott was third fastest in the final session at 125.421 mph, just .003 seconds slower than Busch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a great day today, and hopefully we can cap it off tomorrow,\u201d said Hamlin, who earned his first Busch Pole Award of the season, his first at Watkins Glen and the 26th<\/sup> of his career.<\/p>\n

Hamlin found NASCAR\u2019s enhanced schedule helpful\u2014with two practice sessions and qualifying on the same day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI typically haven\u2019t qualified well here,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cA lot of it is because we (traditionally) qualify on a different day than we practice. I think today, being able to use those repetitions and still be hot from practice and have things fresh in your mind\u2014I just got a little faster each round, so that helped.\u201d<\/p>\n

Busch\u2019s No. 18 Toyota was the consensus favorite in the garage, and Hamlin was surprised to be able to beat his teammate.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s usually pretty good at this stuff,\u201d Hamlin acknowledged. \u201cBut once the 9 (Elliott) and the 18 had gone, and I went behind them, and he (crew chief Mike Wheeler) said we were P1, I felt that we had a good shot at.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Ground Toyota, practices for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series GoBowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International on August 4, 2018 in Watkins Glen, New York. (Photo by Chris Trotman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s amazing to me how well Kyle hits his marks and doesn\u2019t make mistakes, especially on a one-lap qualifying get-it-done moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The starting positions won\u2019t be official until NASCAR inspects the cars before Sunday\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

Elliott was trending for the pole until the final turn.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like I had a good lap going, and then I got a little loose out of (Turn) 11 and thought I could stay in it,\u201d Elliott said. \u201cAnd then I thought I didn\u2019t have any more room\u2014I don\u2019t know how close it was (to the wall), but it must have been pretty close.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat sucks. I just hate to be that close.\u201d<\/p>\n

A number of big names fell by the wayside in the first of the two rounds, notably six-time 2018 winner Kevin Harvick, who posted the 16th<\/sup> fastest speed. Martin Truex Jr., who finished fourth in the first round, bumped out seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson in the final minute.<\/p>\n

Johnson was just .008 second slower than Kasey Kahne, who wound up with the 12th<\/sup> and last transfer position in Round 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou hate to be that close and not advance to the second round,\u201d said Johnson, who expects to race well on Sunday. \u201cBut the 9 car (Elliott) has great speed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brad Keselowski, a perennial contender at the WGI road course, qualified 18th<\/sup>, and Clint Bowyer posted the 19th<\/sup> fastest speed.<\/p>\n

UNOFFICIAL<\/p>\n

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying – Go Bowling at The Glen<\/p>\n

Watkins Glen International<\/p>\n

Watkins Glen, New York<\/p>\n

Saturday, August 4, 2018<\/p>\n

               1. (11)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 125.534 mph.<\/p>\n

               2. (18)  Kyle Busch, Toyota, 125.427 mph.<\/p>\n

               3. (9)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 125.421 mph.<\/p>\n

               4. (78)  Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 125.252 mph.<\/p>\n

               5. (42)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 124.775 mph.<\/p>\n

               6. (22)  Joey Logano, Ford, 124.715 mph.<\/p>\n

               7. (10)  Aric Almirola, Ford, 124.541 mph.<\/p>\n

               8. (47)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 124.416 mph.<\/p>\n

               9. (20)  Erik Jones, Toyota, 124.406 mph.<\/p>\n

               10. (95)  Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 124.406 mph.<\/p>\n

               11. (12)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, 124.311 mph.<\/p>\n

               12. (34)  Michael McDowell, Ford, 124.280 mph.<\/p>\n

               13. (48)  Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 124.077 mph.<\/p>\n

               14. (21)  Paul Menard, Ford, 123.970 mph.<\/p>\n

               15. (1)  Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 123.944 mph.<\/p>\n

               16. (4)  Kevin Harvick, Ford, 123.934 mph.<\/p>\n

               17. (24)  William Byron #, Chevrolet, 123.887 mph.<\/p>\n

               18. (2)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 123.883 mph.<\/p>\n

               19. (14)  Clint Bowyer, Ford, 123.857 mph.<\/p>\n

               20. (31)  Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 123.819 mph.<\/p>\n

               21. (41)  Kurt Busch, Ford, 123.816 mph.<\/p>\n

               22. (37)  Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 123.816 mph.<\/p>\n

               23. (19)  Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 123.706 mph.<\/p>\n

               24. (88)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 123.552 mph.<\/p>\n

               25. (17)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 123.519 mph.<\/p>\n

               26. (3)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 123.203 mph.<\/p>\n

               27. (38)  David Ragan, Ford, 123.155 mph.<\/p>\n

               28. (6)  Matt Kenseth, Ford, 122.720 mph.<\/p>\n

               29. (96)  Parker Kligerman(i), Toyota, 122.435 mph.<\/p>\n

               30. (32)  Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 122.159 mph.<\/p>\n

               31. (43)  Bubba Wallace #, Chevrolet, 122.120 mph.<\/p>\n

               32. (13)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 121.944 mph.<\/p>\n

               33. (72)  Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 121.169 mph.<\/p>\n

               34. (15)  Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 120.105 mph.<\/p>\n

               35. (51)  Josh Bilicki(i), Ford, 119.593 mph.<\/p>\n

               36. (23)  Spencer Gallagher(i), Toyota, 119.498 mph.<\/p>\n

               37. (00)  Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 117.704 mph.<\/p>\n

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

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. \u2013 Denny Hamlin blitzed the Watkins Glen road course with the fastest lap of the day on Saturday to win the provisional pole for Sunday\u2019s Go Bowling at the Glen (3 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), pending post-qualifying inspection on Sunday morning. Hamlin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":20957,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[154,16,472],"class_list":["post-20953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-joey-logano","tag-nascar","tag-watkins-glen-international"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/357138.jpg?fit=4236%2C2819&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-5rX","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20953"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20996,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20953\/revisions\/20996"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}