Denny Hamlin says his Chase starts now as he motors to Sprint Cup pole at Atlanta
Denny Hamlin won the pole for the Labor Day weekend race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. // Sam Cranston, NASCAR Illustrated
HAMPTON, Ga. – Denny Hamlin says for his Joe Gibbs Racing team, “our Chase starts now.”
If that’s the case, then Hamlin’s got the best seat in the house. The 29-year-old scored his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole of the season Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, checking in with a lap of 187.380 mph on the 1.54-mile track.
It was his second top-five qualifying effort in 11 career starts at AMS.
“We went on such a hot streak there, we kind of got spoiled a little bit, I guess you could say,” said Hamlin, a winner of five races earlier this year. “It deemed … the regular season irrelevant from that point on because we felt like we knew we were going to get in the Chase. We found ourselves trying to win so much and going all out for wins that it probably hurt us in the long run.
“So these next two weeks we’re going to points race just as if it’s Loudon [to open the Chase].”
Ryan Newman (Stewart-Haas Racing), a seven-time pole winner at AMS, will start alongside Hamlin in Sunday night’s Emory Healthcare 500 after his lap of 187.070.
Completing the top five were Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing), Carl Edwards (Roush Fenway Racing) and Newman’s teammate, Tony Stewart.
Hamlin said he isn’t concerned with a falloff when his car’s qualifying setup is swapped out and it’s put in race trim.
“I’m cautiously optimistic,” he said. “But this was the best car I’ve ever had in race trim. It was very, very good [in practice].”
The team posted wins in five of 10 races earlier this year but finished 15th or worse in three of Hamlin’s next five starts. More recently, Hamlin finished 37th at Watkins Glen and then 34th at Bristol.
“These next two weeks, we’re bringing everything that we’ve got to the race track, the best stuff that we have, and seeing how we stack up against the competition,” he said. “Our Chase starts right now.
“Obviously we brought our best stuff here and we never qualify on the pole, we never qualify in the top 10. So this is a great step and good sign for our team.”
Newman, 15th in points and 118 points out of 12th with two races remaining before the Chase field is set, said all he can do is what his team has done all season long.
“All you can expect from me and our team is the best we can possibly do,” he said.
“We can’t expect as a team to go out there and make up points in two races that we didn’t accomplish in the last 24. That being said, we’ll do the best job we possibly can. We’ll go out and if we win the race, we win the race. If we finish in the top-five in both of them, we still may not have enough points to make it into the Chase. So either way, we are searching for our best finish, no different than any other race.”
Defending series champion Jimmie Johnson will start seventh, while points leader Kevin Harvick was only 29th fastest in qualifying.
Failing to qualify for the series’ 25th race were Jason Leffler (Braun Racing), Landon Cassill (Phoenix Racing), Scott Riggs (Prism Motorsports) and Todd Bodine (Gunselman Motorsports).
Those making the field based on qualifying speed were Michael McDowell (Whitney Motorsports), Joe Nemechek (Nemco Motorsports), Patrick Carpentier (Latitude 43 Motorsports), Dave Blaney (Front Row Motorsports), J.J. Yeley (Tommy Baldwin Racing) Mike Bliss (Prism Motorsports), Bill Elliott (Wood Brothers Racing) and Casey Mears (Germain Racing).
