{"id":55546,"date":"2025-11-01T17:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T22:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=55546"},"modified":"2025-11-02T10:46:27","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T16:46:27","slug":"championship-4-shine-in-phoenix-cup-qualifying-as-hamlin-leads-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/01\/championship-4-shine-in-phoenix-cup-qualifying-as-hamlin-leads-the-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Championship 4 shine in Phoenix Cup Qualifying as Hamlin leads the way"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

AVONDALE, Ariz. \u2013 Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin issued a strong statement for his 2025 championship intentions Saturday afternoon claiming pole position for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race.<\/p>\n

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Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Progressive Toyota, poses for photos after winning the pole award during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 01, 2025 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Three of the four championship-eligible drivers \u2013 also including Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson \u2013 claimed the top three positions in the qualifying session. The fourth, Hamlin\u2019s JGR teammate Chase Briscoe will roll off the grid from 12th position in Sunday\u2019s Championship Race (3 p.m. ET on NBC & Peacock, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

Hamlin\u2019s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota turned in a lap of 133.759 mph around the one-mile Phoenix oval \u2013 a slight .042-second faster than Byron\u2019s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.<\/p>\n

It marks the sixth pole position for Hamlin on the season \u2013 48th of his career \u2013 and perhaps stands to be one of the most impactful.<\/p>\n

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Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Progressive Toyota, looks on during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 01, 2025 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve really been working hard and hope it will pay off tomorrow,\u201d said the 44-year-old Virginian Hamlin, a 60-race winner, whose six trophies this season are double that of any championship competitor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re obviously going to be in a great starting spot there but then obviously we\u2019ve got to make sure we\u2019re doing all the right things the entire day and largely that\u2019s going to rest on my shoulders. And I\u2019m going to do the best that I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamlin said winning the pole was certainly a positive but that it did not necessarily provide a huge advantage on the field as close as his competitors typically are to him. But he conceded, the strong qualifying showing among the championship contenders was indicative of the intensity necessary in this high-stakes one-race way that NASCAR decides the title.<\/p>\n

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Chase Briscoe, driver of the #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, poses with the Busch Light BLPA Season Trophy for the most 2025 season pole awards during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 01, 2025 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Among the four championship eligible drivers, only the 2021 series champion Larson has hoisted the sport\u2019s most acclaimed trophy previously winning from pole position here at Phoenix. His teammate Byron, this year\u2019s Daytona 500 winner comes into the race as the Regular Season Champion and is making his third consecutive appearance in the championship race. Hamlin\u2019s teammate, the 30-year-old Briscoe, is the only one among the four competing in his very first championship bid.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly, it\u2019s always an advantage to qualify on the pole, there\u2019s never a disadvantage to starting first and having the number one pit stall,” Hamlin said. \u201cSo, I don\u2019t know if it directly correlates, but it\u2019s always an advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust try to do everything you can to execute,” Hamlin added, . \u2026 I just truly believe that tomorrow that the best cars, whoever it is and it could be somebody who qualified 20th – could make their way to the front with the tire and track surface we have right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s going to be a battle amongst us four with a few others sprinkled in there. It\u2019s going to be fun to watch.”<\/p>\n

Interviews:<\/h3>\n

NCS Championship 4 Drivers – (Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, William Byron, Kyle Larson) Busch Light Pole Award winner (Denny Hamlin) – <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

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NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying – NASCAR Cup Series Championship<\/b><\/p>\n

Phoenix Raceway<\/b><\/p>\n

Avondale, Arizona<\/b><\/p>\n

Saturday, November 1, 2025<\/b><\/p>\n

                1. (11) Denny Hamlin (P) @, Toyota, 133.759 mph.<\/p>\n

                2. (24) William Byron (P) @, Chevrolet, 133.551 mph.<\/p>\n

                3. (5) Kyle Larson (P) @, Chevrolet, 133.437 mph.<\/p>\n

                4. (2) Austin Cindric, Ford, 133.249 mph.<\/p>\n

                5. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 133.190 mph.<\/p>\n

                6. (77) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 133.141 mph.<\/p>\n

                7. (21) Josh Berry, Ford, 132.876 mph.<\/p>\n

                8. (48) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 132.871 mph.<\/p>\n

                9. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford, 132.787 mph.<\/p>\n

                10. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 132.748 mph.<\/p>\n

                11. (8) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 132.699 mph.<\/p>\n

                12. (19) Chase Briscoe (P) @, Toyota, 132.680 mph.<\/p>\n

                13. (1) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 132.660 mph.<\/p>\n

                14. (99) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 132.631 mph.<\/p>\n

                15. (43) Erik Jones, Toyota, 132.577 mph.<\/p>\n

                16. (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 132.489 mph.<\/p>\n

                17. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 132.470 mph.<\/p>\n

                18. (4) Noah Gragson, Ford, 132.431 mph.<\/p>\n

                19. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 132.406 mph.<\/p>\n

                20. (20) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 132.372 mph.<\/p>\n

                21. (60) Ryan Preece, Ford, 132.368 mph.<\/p>\n

                22. (38) Zane Smith, Ford, 132.265 mph.<\/p>\n

                23. (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 132.261 mph.<\/p>\n

                24. (45) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 132.256 mph.<\/p>\n

                25. (54) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 132.168 mph.<\/p>\n

                26. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 132.144 mph.<\/p>\n

                27. (41) Cole Custer, Ford, 132.139 mph.<\/p>\n

                28. (42) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 132.105 mph.<\/p>\n

                29. (7) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 131.868 mph.<\/p>\n

                30. (34) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 131.839 mph.<\/p>\n

                31. (88) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 131.791 mph.<\/p>\n

                32. (35) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 131.584 mph.<\/p>\n

                33. (51) Cody Ware, Ford, 131.171 mph.<\/p>\n

                34. (10) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 130.804 mph.<\/p>\n

                35. (44) JJ Yeley(i), Chevrolet, 129.870 mph.<\/p>\n

                36. (66) Casey Mears(i), Ford, 129.660 mph.<\/p>\n

                37. (71) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 128.760 mph.<\/p>\n

                38. (16) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. \u2013 Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin issued a strong statement for his 2025 championship intentions Saturday afternoon claiming pole position for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race. Three of the four championship-eligible drivers \u2013 also including Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson \u2013 claimed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":55557,"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":[41,16,395],"class_list":["post-55546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-denny-hamlin","tag-nascar","tag-phoenix-raceway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2244524013-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-erU","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55546","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=55546"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55569,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55546\/revisions\/55569"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}