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Interrupted by rain, Hamlin takes Nashville pole
Denny Hamlin will start from the pole at Nashville Superspeedway after rain brought an early end to NASCAR Cup Series qualifying Saturday afternoon.
Hamlin led the way after the first round of qualifying, which is how the field for the Ally 400 was set. Hamlin clocked in at 160.413mph (29.848s) for his second pole of the season and the 35th of his career.
“It was a great run for us,” Hamlin said. “We didn’t start off practice that stellar but with every run we kept getting better and better.”
Nashville is the last race Hamlin's crew chief Chris Gabehart and crew members Darrell Edwards and Blake Houston are serving suspensions. The three have missed four races after the left-front wheel came off Hamlin’s car at Dover.
With interim crew chief Sam McAulay, Hamlin won the pole and the race at Charlotte and is on the pole at Nashville.
Joey Logano starts second with a lap of 160.107mph. Kyle Larson, the defending race winner, starts third at 159.963mph.
Chase Elliott starts fourth (160.107mph) and Daniel Suarez starts fifth (159.877mph).
Rounding out the top 10 are Ryan Blaney (159.867mph), Ross Chastain (159.722mph), Kevin Harvick (159.659mph), Christopher Bell (159.228mph) and Martin Truex Jr. (159.207mph).
After being the fastest driver in Friday’s practice session, Bubba Wallace starts 30th. Wallace had to chase his Toyota Camry up the track in Turns 1 and 2 during his qualifying run.
Kyle Busch was the only driver not to clock in a qualifying time. Busch spun in Turn 4 on his qualifying lap and hit the wall with the left rear of his Toyota. He’ll start last Sunday afternoon.
UP NEXT: Ally 400 at 5 p.m. ET Sunday.
Kelly Crandall
Kelly has been on the NASCAR beat full-time since 2013, and joined RACER as chief NASCAR writer in 2017. Her work has also appeared in NASCAR.com, the NASCAR Illustrated magazine, and NBC Sports. A corporate communications graduate from Central Penn College, Crandall is a two-time George Cunningham Writer of the Year recipient from the National Motorsports Press Association.
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