Denny Hamlin ‘Monsters’ the field to grab Dover pole
Denny Hamlin collects his third pole of the season
Denny Hamlin has kept the good times rolling by winning pole for the AAA 400 at the ‘Monster Mile’ at Dover International Speedway.
It’s the Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s third Coors Light pole award of the season and the 12th of his career. Hamlin was 0.005 seconds faster than Clint Bowyer with Martin Truex Jr. Making it a Toyota trifecta in qualifying.
Hamlin leads all drivers with five wins so far this season, including a victory last weekend at Loudon.
“I think probably 75 percent was the car and 25 percent the driver, in that sense,” said Hamlin.
“I think there’s a lot of drivers out there who could be able to do what I do with the cars that crew chief Darian Grubb’s been giving me these last few weeks.
“So I’m going to give him pretty much all the credit and ride his back as long as it’ll hold me.”
Chase drivers Greg Biffle and Jeff Gordon qualified sixth and seventh, respectively. The other seven Chase drivers will start as follows: Kasey Kahne, ninth; Brad Keselowski, 10th; points leader Jimmie Johnson, 11th; Matt Kenseth, 12th; Kevin Harvick, 13th; Tony Stewart, 24th; and Dale Earnhardt Jr., 25th.
Australia’s Marcos Ambrose will start 27th after brushing the wall on his run.
“That was not good,” said Ambrose.
“We’ve had a couple of tough weeks here and wanted to get something going, but hitting the fence and running slow is not the way to do it. I’ll just think about it overnight and hopefully come back with a strong race car tomorrow.
“We’ve just got to get the car flying through the corner. I think we actually made some gains there since yesterday, but we’re just behind and we need to catch up.”
David Stremme, Mike Bliss, Jason Leffler, Cole Whitt and Kelly Bires failed to make the 43-car field.
RACE LINEUP : AAA 400 – Dover International Speedway
|
POS |
DRIVER |
MAKE |
SPONSOR |
MPH |
TIME |
| 1 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Office | 159.299 | 22.599 |
| 2 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | 5-hour Energy | 159.264 | -0.005 |
| 3 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 159.201 | -0.014 |
| 4 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil | 158.758 | -0.077 |
| 5 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | Interstate Batteries | 158.667 | -0.090 |
| 6 | Greg Biffle | Ford | Scotch-Brite | 158.541 | -0.108 |
| 7 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | Drive to End Hunger | 158.444 | -0.122 |
| 8 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | U.S. Army | 158.297 | -0.143 |
| 9 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | Farmers Insurance | 158.256 | -0.149 |
| 10 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 158.151 | -0.164 |
| 11 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools | 158.089 | -0.173 |
| 12 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Ford EcoBoost | 157.992 | -0.187 |
| 13 | Joey Logano | Toyota | The Home Depot | 157.971 | -0.190 |
| 14 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Budweiser | 157.971 | -0.190 |
| 15 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Fastenal | 157.950 | -0.193 |
| 16 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | Kingsford | 157.819 | -0.212 |
| 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | Cargill | 157.784 | -0.217 |
| 18 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row / Farm American | 157.653 | -0.236 |
| 19 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Menards / CertainTeed | 157.604 | -0.243 |
| 20 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | McDonald’s | 156.958 | -0.337 |
| 21 | Aric Almirola | Ford | Super 8 | 156.924 | -0.342 |
| 22 | Landon Cassill | Toyota | Burger King / Dr Pepper | 156.829 | -0.356 |
| 23 | Josh Wise* | Ford | MDS Transport | 156.631 | -0.385 |
| 24 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Office Depot / Mobil 1 | 156.597 | -0.390 |
| 25 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | National Guard / Diet Mountain Dew | 156.542 | -0.398 |
| 26 | Mark Martin | Toyota | Aaron’s 2000th Store / Bronx, NY | 156.488 | -0.406 |
| 27 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Dewalt | 156.298 | -0.434 |
| 28 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | Phoenix Construction | 156.230 | -0.444 |
| 29 | Reed Sorenson | Chevrolet | Plinker Tactical | 156.223 | -0.445 |
| 30 | Casey Mears | Ford | GEICO | 156.182 | -0.451 |
| 31 | David Ragan | Ford | Long John Silver’s | 156.020 | -0.475 |
| 32 | Michael McDowell | Ford | Phil Parsons Racing | 155.885 | -0.495 |
| 33 | Travis Kvapil | Toyota | Burger King / Dr Pepper | 155.709 | -0.521 |
| 34 | Scott Speed | Ford | Jordan Truck Sales | 155.440 | -0.561 |
| 35 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Target | 155.380 | -0.570 |
| 36 | Scott Riggs | Chevrolet | North Texas Pipe | 155.253 | -0.589 |
| 37 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | AM / FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves | 155.059 | -0.618 |
| 38 | Danica Patrick | Chevrolet | GoDaddy.com | 155.025 | -0.623 |
| 39 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | MaxQworkforce.com | 155.025 | -0.623 |
| 40 | David Stremme | Toyota | Inception Motorsports | 154.759 | -0.663 |
| 41 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 154.646 | -0.680 |
| 42 | Mike Bliss | Toyota | Plinker Tactical | 154.639 | -0.681 |
| 43 | J.J. Yeley | Chevrolet | Drive Sober, Drive Alive DE | 154.553 | -0.694 |
| 44 | Jason Leffler | Toyota | Robinson-Blak-eney Racing | 154.467 | -0.707 |
| 45 | T.J. Bell+ | Ford | Greensmoke | 154.182 | -0.750 |
| 46 | Cole Whitt | Chevrolet | Little Joes Autos.com | 153.741 | -0.817 |
| 47 | David Gilliland+ | Ford | Taco Bell | 153.689 | -0.825 |
| 48 | Kelly Bires | Ford | Bestway Disposal | 153.682 | -0.826 |
+ Set by Owner Points
* Denotes Rookie
