Denny Hamlin wins South Point 400 pole, eyes 3rd straight LVMS win

Denny Hamlin has plenty of reasons to be feeling optimistic as the NASCAR Cup Series makes its second trip of the year to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend.

Hamlin has won the past two Cup Series races at LVMS, which include last year’s South Point 400 and the Pennzoil 400 in March.

On Saturday, Hamlin put himself in the best possible position to win a third straight LVMS race.

Hamlin won the pole for Sunday’s South Point 400 with a qualifying lap of 28.91 seconds (186.78 mph). He’ll start first when the green flag flies at 2:30 p.m. at LVMS in the fifth race in the NASCAR Chase.

“I was a little more nervous going into this qualifying session because I knew my job as a driver was going to be more crucial because when the track is cool, you can run wide open,” said Hamlin, as air temperatures hit 97 degrees, which made the racetrack slick and tougher to drive.

“This is more about executing your shifts and things like that, and then hitting the lines. Here, in (Turns) 3 and 4, the cars were a handful, and we saw a few wash up the racetrack. My team nailed the balance right when we needed to, and we executed as good as we could on the racetrack.”

Toyota dominance

Hamlin will start ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Ty Gibbs (28.927 seconds, 186.67 mph) and Christopher Bell (28.998 seconds, 186.22 mph). Toyota cars swept the top five starting positions at LVMS, which marks the second time the manufacturer has accomplished that in its 20th season in the Cup Series.

It’s the third straight LVMS race where Toyota cars have swept at least the top three starting spots in qualifying.

“It’s important. The races that we’ve really succeeded well at here, we started up front,” Hamlin said in his post-qualifying news conference. “Today was executed by the team perfectly with how we approached the week. The adjustments we made to the car for temperature seemed to be really good changes. I couldn’t ask for today to go any better.”

A third straight Vegas win would be crucial for Hamlin in the battle for the Cup Series title. Hamlin, 45, is second in the points standings at 26 points behind leader Kyle Larson. Hamlin is looking to win his first NASCAR Cup Series title in his 21st full-time season in the series.

Hamlin’s win at LVMS in March was one of four victories for the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota during the regular season. Hamlin started the playoffs as the No. 1 seed with a 25-point lead over then-second-place Ryan Blaney.

Two-man title fight?

But Hamlin has lost his points lead as Larson has won two of the first four Chase races and has an average finish of 2.25. Hamlin opened the Chase with a 13th-place finish at Darlington and has top-10 finishes in the last three races.

Hamlin finished third at Kansas last week at a similar-style 1½-mile track at LVMS. The Toyota drivers looked at the current stretch of 1½-mile tracks, which continues at Charlotte next week and at Las Vegas, as an opportunity to rack up a lot of points to move up in the standings.

After Kansas, it appears that Larson has closed the gap to the Toyota cars at intermediate tracks.

“The field has gotten closer because there’s not been any real big rules changes when it comes to major aerodynamics, or there’s been no horsepower changes on the big tracks,” Hamlin said at an earlier news conference Saturday. “We’re years and years into this (the NextGen Car and rules packages) and if you give teams more than two or three shots at one racetrack, the lap times are going to get tighter and then it becomes the track position racing that we’ve seen.

“That doesn’t mean you can’t overcome it. Fast cars can still make their way through the field, but you really got to build a gap on the field in order to do that, it’s very hard.”

Bell is third in the standings at 50 points behind Larson, and Joey Logano (who qualified 23rd) is 67 points back in fourth. The top four are the only drivers within a maximum race’s worth of points within the lead.

“I believe that the Toyotas and Denny will be the best (on Sunday), but hopefully we’ve narrowed that gap even more here,” said Larson, who qualified sixth as the highest qualifying non-Toyota driver.

Up next

What: South Point 400 NASCAR Cup Series Chase Race

When: 2:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: Las Vegas Motor Speedway

TV: USA Network

Betting favorite: Kyle Larson (+375)

LVMS Sunday schedule

8 a.m. — Parking Lots open

9 a.m. — Fan Zone opens

9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. — RV Check-In open

10 a.m. — Neon Garage, VIP Suites & Ticket Gates A-B-C-D open

10:30 a.m. — Speedway Children's Charities live auction (Draft Bar, ticket required)

12:15 p.m. — Prerace track pass access open (frontstretch, pass required)

1 p.m. — Prerace Concert: Jade Eagleson

1:25 p.m. — NASCAR Cup Series drivers meeting (Neon Garage, pass required)

1:40 p.m. — NASCAR Cup Series red carpet walk (infield/frontstretch)

1:50 p.m. — NASCAR Cup Series Driver Introductions and Kyle Busch Day Recognition

2:30 p.m. — NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 Chase Race (267 laps)