RICHMOND, Va. — Denny Hamlin, a five-time winner at his home track of Richmond Raceway, is the most recent driver to win here from the pole — claiming the win from the No. 1 starting spot in 2016.
Asked Friday why pole winners have so seldom gone on to win recently in the River City, Hamlin paused and gave a well-thought-out answer about his hometown 0.75-mile oval.
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“I think the average starting position for the winner is somewhere around 6.7, something like that,” said Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. “So you just kind of put yourself somewhere in that range. I think a lot of the reason is that qualifying here is extremely, extremely technical.
“I would say it’s probably the hardest [track] to qualify to hit your marks. … I think that sometimes whoever’s got the best car doesn’t qualify on the pole because it’s just really, really difficult to put it all together, and sometimes, someone with a decent car can just hit the marks just right, and that’s when they get the pole. So, I think the technicality of the actual line that you have to run makes it to where you see comers and goers here.”
In 37 starts, Hamlin has an average starting position of 8.9 and has earned four poles at Richmond, the most recent coming in summer 2024 when he finished runner-up. He’ll have work to do Saturday, though, as the Chesterfield native will roll off 14th.