Denny Hamlin claimed the pole position for Sunday’s Ally 400 during Saturday NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Nashville Superspeedway.
Hamlin covered the 1.33-mile D-shaped oval with the day’s best speed of 160.354 mph in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the second round of qualifying to take the top spot on the front row. He will line up beside local favorite Josh Berry, who took the second spot with a speed of 159.749 mph in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Hamlin was the only driver to break into the 160-mph range on a warm summer day at the fan-favorite track that sits just east of Music City.
Hamlin said his car had good speed in practice and in qualifying.
“Yeah, felt pretty good about it," Hamlin said. "Seems like we’ve definitely fixed some of the things we weren't very good with last year. Even during practice and during the race, we fell on a terminal issue with the car we just couldn’t get fixed. And it seems like that was an emphasis we worked on coming back here. All day today, that was the least of my problems. I definitely feel pretty good about it and certainly, we’re going to work on it overnight and I feel very confident we’ll be in contention tomorrow.”
It was Hamlin’s 42nd career pole, his second of the season and his second pole at Nashville Superspeedway. Hamlin was fastest in Group B with a 159.536, while Berry, a native of Hendersonville, Tennessee, emerged from Group A, where he was second overall in the opening round with a 159.133 mph effort.
“We had a really solid practice,” Berry said. “The car felt really good and then I was little bit worried about the short run speed, but I felt like in practice I was just getting acclimated to everything. We made some really good adjustments for qualifying and had some really good execution there, so we should be on the front row for my home race. That’s pretty cool.”
Nashville's Cup Series qualifying record was set by Aric Almirola in 2021 with a lap of 161.992 mph (29.557 seconds).
The green flag is scheduled to drop at 2:30 p.m. CT on Sunday and live television coverage will be provided by NBC.
Last week’s winner at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Christopher Bell, will start third in his Gibbs Toyota and will line up beside Chevy driver Kyle Larson, while Ford’s Brad Keselowski and Toyota’s Tyler Reddick complete the next two rows.
Defending winner Ross Chastain qualified 20th in his Trackhouse Racing Chevy and defending Cup Series champ Ryan Blaney will start 18th in his Team Penske Ford Mustang.
Craftsman Truck Series star Corey Heim is making his third career Cup Series start at Nashville Superspeedway and he qualified 29th in his No. 50 Toyota fielded by 23XI Racing.
To view the full starting lineup for Sunday’s Ally 400, please click here.
Ty Gibbs captured the pole for the Tennessee Lottery 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race, which will be held later today (Saturday, June 29, 2024), his 11th career pole in 63 career Xfinity Series races.
Gibbs, who took the top spot with a speed of 155.072 mph in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota GR Supra, will start alongside defending Xfinity Series champ Cole Custer, who took the outside front row with a speed of 154.816 mph in his Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang.
Ryan Sieg, defending race winner AJ Allmendinger and Austin Hill rounded out the top five in qualifying. Other notable qualifiers include Justin Allgaier in sixth, Gibbs’ fellow full-time Cup Series rival Ross Chastain, who qualified 20th in the No. 92 Chevy.
Recent Xfinity winner Shane Van Gisbergen qualified 28th and Xfinity rookie sensation Jesse Love will start last in his No. 2 Chevy.
-- NashvilleSuperspeedway.com --
Race Schedule and Tickets
Sunday, June 30
Ally 400 NASCAR Cup Series race
2:30 p.m. CT, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Sunday, Sept. 15
NTT IndyCar Series Big Machine Music City Grand Prix
2 p.m. CT, NBC, Peacock, INDYCAR Live, SiriusXM
Call 866.RACE.TIX to discuss your options with an account representative, or visit NashvilleSuperspeedway.com. Tickets for children ages 12 and younger (with a paying adult) are free for the NASCAR races on Friday and Saturday and are only $10 for Sunday.
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About Nashville Superspeedway
Nashville Superspeedway, Middle Tennessee’s racing jewel, is a year-round family-friendly destination in one of the fastest-growing regions in the country. The 1.33-mile D-shaped track with 14 degrees of banking has hosted three NASCAR Cup Series races, 24 NASCAR Xfinity Series races, 17 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series events and eight INDYCAR SERIES contests. The largest concrete-only track in NASCAR, Nashville Superspeedway is owned by Speedway Motorsports.
