Denny Hamlin beats Kyle Larson for Southern 500 pole at Darlington

Hamlin’s average lap speed of 173.571 mph topped the final five-minute session of knockout qualifying, giving him the pole for Sunday night’s Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

Hamlin won last season’s race after starting from the ninth position.

The pole is his third in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series this season and 29th of his career.

“The number one pit stall is obviously very important here. I’m excited about that," Hamlin said. "Really, the team has done a great job with the car all weekend.

"So, I'm pretty optimistic and you know hopeful that we have a good smooth race on Sunday and continue to build some momentum here over the next few weeks.” 

Kyle Larson ended up second-fastest (173.411 mph) and fellow Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. was third (173.204 mph). Alex Bowman and Kyle Busch completed the top-five.

Rounding out the top 12 starters are Ryan Newman, Erik Jones, Joey Logano, Kurt Busch, William Byron, Chase Elliott and Aric Almirola.

Hendrick Motorsports had three of its four drivers advance to the final round of qualifying.

Round 2

Bowman bolted to the top of the second round with an average lap speed of 174.624 mph.

Larson ended up second (174.278 mph) and Elliott was third (174.161 mph). Hamlin and Newman completed the top-five.

Also advancing to the final round were Kyle Busch, Jones, Logano, Truex, Byron, Kurt Busch and Almirola.

Among those who failed to advance were Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth and Clint Bowyer.

“At the end of the day we weren’t far off but not good enough to advance,” Keselowski said.

Johnson said he tagged the wall off Turn 4 during his final qualifying attempt at the conclusion of the 10-minute session.

“I thought I had plenty of space, but I didn’t, clearly and it damaged the right side of the car,” Johnsons said.

Round 1

Larson led the way in the first round by he was followed by an army of Team Hendrick drivers.

Larson’s average speed of 176.208 mph topped the first session. Byron was second (175.649 mph) and Bowman was third (175.591 mph).

Elliott was fourth and Johnson completed the top-five as all four HMS drivers ended up in the top-five.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Kurt Busch, Hamlin, Newman, Ryan Blaney and Logano.

With just over six minutes remaining in the first round, Jeffrey Earnhardt spun off Turn 2, slid down the backstretch and hit the inside retaining wall with his No. 96 Toyota. He appeared to suffer significant damage.

Earnhardt’s team immediately began bringing out its backup car, which means Earnhardt will have to start Sunday night’s race from the rear of the field.

Among those who failed to advance to Round 2 were Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Darrell Wallace Jr., Kasey Kahne and Jamie McMurray, who has had to change engines twice this weekend and will already start the race from the rest of the field.

“I think the car’s a little faster than what we ran the first lap.” Stenhouse said. “I really love this race track. I’ve made some mistakes early in the race before so that’s what I’ll focus on tomorrow, being around at the end.”

Said Kahne over his team radio following his qualifying run, “That’s all I got right there, I’m on the verge right there. I don’t know how to go any (expletive) faster.”

Take a virtual lap with Denny Hamlin's No. 11 JGR Toyota Camry around Darlington Raceway, courtesy of NASCAR Heat 3:

Cla	#	Driver	4506	Time	Gap	Mph
1	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	28.332		173.571
2	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	28.358	0.026	173.411
3	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	28.392	0.060	173.204
4	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	28.400	0.068	173.155
5	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	28.415	0.083	173.064
6	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	28.453	0.121	172.832
7	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	28.506	0.174	172.511
8	22	Joey Logano	Ford	28.507	0.175	172.505
9	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	28.535	0.203	172.336
10	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	28.550	0.218	172.245
11	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	28.694	0.362	171.381
12	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	28.922	0.590	170.030
13	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	28.460	0.128	172.790
14	21	Paul Menard	Ford	28.505	0.173	172.517
15	6	Matt Kenseth	Ford	28.512	0.180	172.475
16	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	28.523	0.191	172.408
17	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	28.547	0.215	172.263
18	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	28.585	0.253	172.034
19	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	28.621	0.289	171.818
20	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	28.635	0.303	171.734
21	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	28.663	0.331	171.566
22	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	28.667	0.335	171.542
23	38	David Ragan	Ford	28.810	0.478	170.691
24	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	28.830	0.498	170.572
25	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	28.439	0.107	172.917
26	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	28.445	0.113	172.881
27	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Chevrolet	28.489	0.157	172.614
28	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	28.542	0.210	172.293
29	95	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	28.585	0.253	172.034
30	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	28.622	0.290	171.812
31	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	28.819	0.487	170.637
32	52	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	28.854	0.522	170.430
33	15	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	28.928	0.596	169.994
34	72	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	29.091	0.759	169.042
35	00	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	29.330	0.998	167.665
36	66	Timmy Hill	Toyota	30.018	1.686	163.822
37	51	B.J. McLeod	Chevrolet	30.038	1.706	163.713
38	99	Derrike Cope	Chevrolet	30.662	2.330	160.381
39	23	Joey Gase	Toyota	31.781	3.449	154.734
40	96	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Toyota