MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin claimed the Busch Light Pole Award for Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBC, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), giving the championship contender a single-season, career-high six poles and at least the green-flag advantage on the field with two races remaining to determine the NASCAR Cup Series title.
Hamlin’s No. 11 JGR Toyota turned in a 98.492 mph lap around the historic 0.526-mile oval nestled among the southern Virginia fall foliage Saturday afternoon, just bettering his JGR teammate, Ty Gibbs, in the No. 54 JGR Toyota by 0.049 seconds.
Five of Hamlin’s last six race victories have come from pole position, and his work Saturday puts him in front of the seven drivers still mathematically title-eligible.
Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson (98.114 mph), who leads the standings by 73 points over Hamlin, will roll off third in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Team Penske Ford teammates Austin Cindric (97.987 mph) and championship-eligible Joey Logano (97.962 mph) round out the top-five qualifiers.
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“It always makes strategy easier when you’ve qualified up front,” said the 45-year-old Virginian, who now has six career poles at his home-state track and 54 in his decorated career.
“I felt very good about it,” Hamlin said of the fast lap. “I knew coming off Turn four it was enough, and it’s a really good feeling.”
Hamlin has six victories at Martinsville — most among active drivers. His last came in the spring 2025 race. He started from pole position and finished runner-up to Chase Elliott, Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, this spring.
“That was a great lap, truthfully hit all the marks I wanted to hit and the car did all the things I needed it to do on that first lap,” Hamlin said. “Really great job by the race team, great adjustments there, and we’ll see what we’ve got tomorrow.
“We’re going to give it all we’ve got, and all we’ve got is all we’ve got. I wish I had a little bit more, but we just need to control our own destiny tomorrow, and that’s getting the best day we can and let all the chips fall from there.”
Larson won at Martinsville in 2023 and is on a streak of eight consecutive top-10 finishes there, including runner-up showings in 2022 and 2024.
“It was solid. I was hopeful for the lap time to show a little faster,” Larson said of his qualifying work. “Happy to start on the first couple rows and hopefully we can stay in the hunt all day.
“I think everybody else is convinced that we’re going to lock it up here this weekend, but to me, I don’t look at it that way. Obviously Denny’s starting ahead of me, and he’s really, really good here, and was a point away from a max points day earlier this year.
“I’m more looking at how to keep it up front to leave myself a buffer for next week. We’ll see how the race plays out, but that’s kind of my mindset. But Denny’s definitely a much better short track racer than me. So just trying to stay in the hunt.
RFK Racing driver Ryan Preece (97.896 mph) was sixth fastest, followed by Hendrick teammates Alex Bowman (97.840 mph), defending race winner William Byron (97.770 mph) and Elliott (97.714 mph). Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry (97.709 mph) rounded out the top 10.
Hamlin’s JGR teammates Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell round out the top four in the championship standings and will start 11th and 14th on the grid. They are 79 (Briscoe) and 74 (Bell) points off Larson’s pace.
Practice recap
Ryan Preece paced the field in Saturday’s 50-minute session to kick off on-track activity for the Cup Series this weekend. He put down a quick time of 96.612 mph in the No. 60 RFK Racing Ford.
Ford claimed the top three spots with Josh Berry (96.224 mph) and Todd Gilliland (95.927 mph). Ty Gibbs (95.898 mph) and Ross Chastain (95.854 mph) rounded out the top five. Denny Hamlin (95.801 mph), Carson Hocevar (95.757 mph), Chase Elliott (95.690 mph), Michael McDowell (95.641 mph) and Christopher Bell (95.627 mph) completed the top 10 in practice.
MORE: Practice results
Larson struggled in practice and was only 29th fastest with a 94.822 mph best lap and was not close to the top 10 in any consecutive lap average charts.
Chastain had the best 10- and 15-consecutive lap average, while Hocevar topped the board in 20- and 25-consecutive lap average.