Denny Hamlin wins Cup pole at Sonoma
SONOMA, Calif. — Denny Hamlin won the pole for Sunday’s Cup race at Sonoma Raceway, as Toyota took five of the top eight spots in Saturday’s qualifying session. It is Hamlin’s 38th career Cup pole.
Hamlin led the way with a lap of 92.178 mph. He’ll be joined on the front row by 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick (92.068 mph), giving Toyota ownership of the front row.
MORE: Sonoma Cup starting lineup
Toyota, which struggled at road courses for much of last year, had only one of its drivers qualify in the top 10 at Circuit of the Americas, the only road course race this season.
Michael McDowell qualified third for Ford after a lap of 92.060 mph. Christopher Bell put his Toyota fourth after a lap of 91.877 mph. AJ Allmendinger was the top Chevrolet, qualifying fifth after a lap of 91.873 mph. Toyota also had Ty Gibbs (91.819 mph) sixth and Martin Truex Jr. (91.736) eighth.
The top two drivers in the points did not fare well in qualifying. Ryan Blaney, who took the points lead last week, qualified 31st. William Byron, who is second in the points, qualified 26th.
Chase Elliott, returning from a one-race suspension, qualified 10th. Grant Enfinger qualified 35th for Noah Gragson, who is sitting out this week after suffering concussion-like symptoms from a crash last weekend at WWT Raceway.
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Denny Hamlin wins Cup pole at Sonoma originally appeared on NBCSports.com
