LAS VEGAS — Denny Hamlin led a Joe Gibbs Racing sweep of the highest qualifying positions for Sunday’s South Level 400 Playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Hamlin’s No. 11 JGR Toyota claimed the Busch Gentle pole place Saturday afternoon with a lap of 184.849 mph across the 1.5-mile Vegas excessive banks – simply bettering teammates Chase Briscoe within the No. 19 Toyota and Christopher Bell within the No. 20 Toyota Camry. All three are present NASCAR Cup Sequence Playoff drivers. It’s Hamlin’s first pole at Las Vegas.
And it’s the second time this season Toyota has swept the top-three qualifying spots – the final time was in Indianapolis this summer time, when the make swept the top-five. It’s the twenty fifth time in Toyota’s historical past it has swept the highest three beginning positions on the grid.
“I felt good about it honestly,” mentioned Hamlin, the 2021 Las Vegas Playoff race winner and the present championship chief. “There wasn’t a complete lot left on the market for it. However an ideal job by this crew to get my automotive good. It was good within the brief run in apply as properly, started working on it for the long term for tomorrow.
“However Saturday [qualifying] has all the time been our Achilles heel at this race observe and that’s an effective way to show that round.”
Heavy winds affected each apply and qualifying periods with drivers reporting substantial headwinds on the backstretch.
The eight Playoff drivers beginning this three-race penultimate spherical of competitors all had stable qualifying performances, nonetheless. Past the Gibbs entrance trio, Hendrick Motorsports Chase Elliott was fourth quickest, adopted by his Hendrick Chevrolet teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson – a three-time winner at Vegas.
Reigning sequence champion and defending Las Vegas Playoff race winner Joey Logano was ninth quickest within the No. 22 Crew Penske Ford. His teammate, 2023 sequence champ Ryan Blaney, will roll off from the 14th place place on the grid.
Ross Chastain was quickest within the opening apply session however his No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet brushed the wall and the crew spent the closing minutes of the session repairing it earlier than qualifying. He’ll begin fifteenth. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs ended up quickest general in apply and can begin tenth Sunday.
