Denny Hamlin gives Toyota its first Cup pole of 2019 season

One of the last five of 39 drivers to qualify, Hamlin’s average lap speed of 129.230 mph just edged Chevrolet driver Kyle Larson (129.004 mph) for the top starting position in Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.

Kurt Busch qualified fourth and Aric Almirola completed the top-five.

The pole is the first for Hamlin this season and remarkably the first for a Toyota driver, although they have won 11 of the season’s first 23 races.

It’s also the 31st of Hamlin’s career and fourth at Bristol.

Asked if he could believe this was Toyota’s first pole of 2019, Hamlin said, “Yeah, I can believe it. I’ve lived it. I’m proud of this whole team for giving me such a great car. The guys are on it right now – it’s just unbelievable with what they’re doing with these race cars.

“I’m just trying to learn every week, doing everything I can to get better and the results are showing it.”

Entering Saturday night’s race, Hamlin has three wins this season and has finished fifth or better in the last five races. He started fifth and finished fifth in the spring Bristol race.

“The 2010 season is really when I can remember it being as consistently good. It’s week-to-week though, you’re only as good as your last race,” Hamlin said. “We sure don’t want to stink it up when we go out here tomorrow night but we have a great starting spot.

“We need to go out there, set the pace and get this thing in Victory Lane.”

Rounding out the top-10 starters are Chase Elliott, Matt DiBenedetto, Kevin Harvick, Erik Jones and Alex Bowman.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Time	Gap	Mph
1	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	14.848		129.230
2	42	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	14.874	0.026	129.004
3	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	14.875	0.027	128.995
4	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	14.896	0.048	128.813
5	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	14.901	0.053	128.770
6	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	14.923	0.075	128.580
7	95	Matt DiBenedetto		Toyota	14.937	0.089	128.460
8	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	14.940	0.092	128.434
9	20	Erik Jones		Toyota	14.945	0.097	128.391
10	88	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	14.963	0.115	128.236
11	22	Joey Logano		Ford	14.976	0.128	128.125
12	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	14.981	0.133	128.082
13	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	14.997	0.149	127.946
14	6	Ryan Newman		Ford	15.002	0.154	127.903
15	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Ford	15.028	0.180	127.682
16	38	David Ragan		Ford	15.053	0.205	127.470
17	8	Daniel Hemric		Chevrolet	15.084	0.236	127.208
18	41	Daniel Suarez		Ford	15.088	0.240	127.174
19	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	15.116	0.268	126.938
20	14	Clint Bowyer		Ford	15.129	0.281	126.829
21	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	15.166	0.318	126.520
22	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.		Chevrolet	15.188	0.340	126.337
23	47	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	15.192	0.344	126.303
24	13	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	15.225	0.377	126.030
25	21	Paul Menard		Ford	15.243	0.395	125.881
26	32	Corey Lajoie		Ford	15.273	0.425	125.633
27	36	Chase Briscoe		Ford	15.275	0.427	125.617
28	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	15.311	0.463	125.322
29	37	Chris Buescher		Chevrolet	15.314	0.466	125.297
30	48	Jimmie Johnson		Chevrolet	15.331	0.483	125.158
31	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	15.340	0.492	125.085
32	00	Landon Cassill		Chevrolet	15.366	0.518	124.873
33	51	B.J. McLeod		Chevrolet	15.468	0.620	124.050
34	27	Quin Houff		Chevrolet	15.579	0.731	123.166
35	53	Josh Bilicki		Chevrolet	15.631	0.783	122.756
36	54	J.J. Yeley		Ford	15.732	0.884	121.968
37	77	Reed Sorenson		Chevrolet	15.733	0.885	121.960
38	52	Kyle Weatherman		Chevrolet	15.786	0.938	121.551
39	15	Ross Chastain		Chevrolet	15.840	0.992	121.136