Pole winner Hamlin among six dropping to the back for the start at Michigan

Denny Hamlin, the pole-sitter for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway, will be one of six drivers starting from the rear of the field. All of them are for unapproved adjustments following qualifying.

Hamlin had a flat left-rear tire in qualifying, and his Joe Gibbs Racing team had to repair the underbody of his Toyota. However, Hamlin came from the back at Nashville Superspeedway a week ago after being penalized for jumping the start and won the race. He is the defending winner at Michigan.

“I mean, yes and no,” said Hamlin when asked about whether he can do the same again at MIS. “If the cautions can fall at the right times, yes, as long as I get decent restarts, yes. But again, we're going to have to get lucky in a few spots, I think. The race is long, and you can certainly do it. It's not unachievable, but also sometimes when you're in the back, if there's an early caution, to do a different strategy to get up there later on.

“If anything, I was just trying to get a decent pit stall for (Sunday) and I was very surprised when it was good enough, especially with as much lifting as I felt like I had during that qualifying session. It isn’t going to be easy. I know, if you look at last week, that all seemed easy, but things really fell our way, and they're going to have to again this weekend.”

The other drivers starting at the rear after adjustments are Christopher Bell, Erik Jones, and Austin Cindric, who also had flat tires during practice. It was the left rear for both Cindric and Jones, and the left front for Bell.

Bell had qualified eighth and Jones had qualified 10th. Cindric had qualified 31st.

Josh Berry will start in the rear after spinning on his qualifying attempt. He kept the car off the wall but still needed attention from the race team.

And lastly, William Byron will drop to the rear because of the team having to address a mechanical issue with the changing system. Byron had qualified ninth.