Hamlin spins and wins NASCAR All-Star Race pole

Denny Hamlin performed a version of the spin and win Saturday in NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Dover Motor Speedway for the All-Star Race.

Hamlin pulled out of the garage for his qualifying attempt and spun on the apron. But he gathered up his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry and, with the assistance of his pit crew, won the pole in the three-lap format. The overall time was 109.298 seconds at 98.812 mph.

“I was just trying to get as much heat in the tires as I possibly could,” Hamlin said. “I was trying to feel it out, and it was slick. So, I just didn’t want to flat spot them, and I still could feel a little bit of vibration on the lap. The lap was still competitive even though I didn’t do a great job with the tires on the warm-up there, but hats off to the team. They’re the ones that keep you in the game, and it’s all about the pit stop, and stuff like that. Hats off to this whole Progressive team.”

Brad Keselowski qualified second. Keselowski’s overall time was 109.442 seconds.

All-Star Race format features one qualifying lap at speed, after which the driver must pit on the second lap and then finish their qualifying attempt after leaving pit road. In addition to the session setting the field, the individual pit stop times go toward the Pit Crew Challenge. Zane Smith’s group from Front Row Motorsports won that event.

Erik Jones qualified third (109.880), Ross Chastain qualified fourth (109.911), and William Byron qualified fifth (109.986). Christopher Bell qualified sixth (110.110), Bubba Wallace qualified seventh (110.247), Joey Logano qualified eighth (110.353), Ty Gibbs qualified ninth (110.412), and Austin Cindric completed the top 10 (110.431).

Bell won the All-Star Race last year. However, it was held at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Kyle Busch qualified 11th, Alex Bowman qualified 12th, and Tyler Reddick qualified 14th. Chase Briscoe qualified 16th, Shane van Gisbergen qualified 18th, and Smith qualified 25th. Connor Zilisch qualified 27th, Ryan Blaney qualified 28th, Kyle Larson qualified 29th, and Chase Elliott qualified 31st.

The starting lineup determines how Sunday’s race will start. However, the format will then see the top 26 drivers inverted after the first segment.

There were 12 drivers or teams that had an issue during qualifying:

• Connor Zilisch spun at the entrance to pit road and was penalized 10 seconds for speeding.
• John Hunter Nemechek’s team did not get the left front wheel tight, and it started to come off as he left pit road.
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun off Turn 4 and down the frontstretch.
• Zane Smith was penalized 10 seconds for speeding.
• AJ Allmendinger did not get to make a qualifying attempt because of a battery issue.
• Daniel Suarez had the right front wheel come off his car, which led to him hitting the wall.
• Kyle Larson was penalized 20 seconds for speeding and a blend line violation.
• Carson Hocevar’s team did not have the left rear wheel tight when the jack was dropped, and it had to be tightened before he left the box.
• Chris Buescher spun on the apron after leaving pit road after his pit stop.
• Ryan Blaney’s team had a slow stop with an issue on the right rear.
• Chase Elliott had to back up into his pit stall for the team to tighten the left front.
• Hamlin spun on the apron after leaving the garage to begin his qualifying attempt.

“Mainly, I was feeling bad for all my guys that they didn’t get the opportunity to do their pit stop,” Stenhouse said. “I’m definitely going to owe them something. Once I kept it off the wall, I felt like Jimmie Johnson from here back in the day when he was spinning all different directions. But I had my hands full in there.

“I hate it for my guys; they brought a really fast NOS Energy Drink Chevrolet. I was really happy with it in practice yesterday, felt really good right up until that point, so it just jumped out from underneath me and cost us a good shot at starting toward the front. I felt like we got to pit road good here, and I got a fast race car and a fast pit crew, so we’ll just have to battle back for tomorrow. I was just trying to get after it too much.”

Sunday will be the first time Dover has hosted the All-Star Race. Hamlin won at the track last year in a points race.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been in the top 10 in All-Star qualifying,” Hamlin said. “I probably have, but this is not my forte of going out and getting all these little metrics in one shot, especially overnight when you’re doing it very cold. But I liked our car yesterday; I felt like we were pretty strong.

“Obviously, if we can go out there and do well in the first segment, I think in traffic is where we typically excel. So, it could be a good weekend.”

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