Denny Hamlin takes pole position at Martinsville

Hamlin’s average lap speed of 97.840 mph in Saturday’s qualifying session was enough to hold off Chase Elliott to win the pole for Sunday’s First Data 500.

The pole is his third of the 2019 Cup Series season and 33rd of his career. It’s also his fourth pole at Martinsville but first since the 2013 season.

“I did an OK job but this car has been good all weekend so far,” said Hamlin, who won last weekend at Kansas Speedway. “It was pretty fast in practice.

“The feel hasn’t always been great but it’s hard pretty decent speed. I’m pretty happy with it and look forward to 500 more laps of this on Sunday.”

Elliott (97.694 mph) will officially share the front row with Hamlin but will have to start the race from the rear of the field after his team made an engine change in his No. 9 Chevrolet earlier Saturday.

Martin Truex Jr. was third-fastest (97.463 mph). Aric Almirola was fourth and Michael McDowell rounded out the top-five.

Completing the top-10 starters are Ryan Blaney, Clint Bowyer, Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez and Joey Logano.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	2	19.354			97.840
2	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	2	19.383	00.029	00.029	97.694
3	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	2	19.429	00.075	00.046	97.463
4	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	2	19.453	00.099	00.024	97.342
5	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	2	19.471	00.117	00.018	97.252
6	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	2	19.487	00.133	00.016	97.172
7	14	Clint Bowyer		Ford	2	19.488	00.134	00.001	97.167
8	20	Erik Jones		Toyota	2	19.492	00.138	00.004	97.148
9	41	Daniel Suarez		Ford	2	19.506	00.152	00.014	97.078
10	22	Joey Logano		Ford	2	19.509	00.155	00.003	97.063
11	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	2	19.525	00.171	00.016	96.983
12	95	Matt DiBenedetto		Toyota	2	19.545	00.191	00.020	96.884
13	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	2	19.547	00.193	00.002	96.874
14	42	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	2	19.547	00.193	00.000	96.874
15	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	2	19.579	00.225	00.032	96.716
16	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Ford	2	19.593	00.239	00.014	96.647
17	38	David Ragan		Ford	2	19.619	00.265	00.026	96.519
18	8	Daniel Hemric		Chevrolet	2	19.641	00.287	00.022	96.411
19	88	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	2	19.650	00.296	00.009	96.366
20	37	Chris Buescher		Chevrolet	2	19.669	00.315	00.019	96.273
21	47	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	2	19.686	00.332	00.017	96.190
22	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	2	19.688	00.334	00.002	96.180
23	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	2	19.732	00.378	00.044	95.966
24	48	Jimmie Johnson		Chevrolet	2	19.742	00.388	00.010	95.917
25	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	2	19.745	00.391	00.003	95.903
26	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.		Chevrolet	2	19.756	00.402	00.011	95.849
27	6	Ryan Newman		Ford	2	19.762	00.408	00.006	95.820
28	32	Corey Lajoie		Ford	2	19.796	00.442	00.034	95.656
29	13	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	2	19.821	00.467	00.025	95.535
30	21	Paul Menard		Ford	2	19.900	00.546	00.079	95.156
31	36	Matt Crafton		Ford	2	20.031	00.677	00.131	94.533
32	00	Landon Cassill		Chevrolet	2	20.070	00.716	00.039	94.350
33	51	B.J. McLeod		Chevrolet	2	20.141	00.787	00.071	94.017
34	27	Reed Sorenson		Chevrolet	2	20.150	00.796	00.009	93.975
35	53	J.J. Yeley		Chevrolet	2	20.292	00.938	00.142	93.318
36	15	Ross Chastain		Chevrolet	1	20.401	01.047	00.109	92.819
37	77	Timmy Hill		Chevrolet	2	20.449	01.095	00.048	92.601
38	52	Garrett Smithley		Chevrolet	2	20.477	01.123	00.028	92.474