Hamlin Wins Pole for Watkins Glen MENC Race

AP Photo

WATKINS GLEN, NY - RIS - Denny Hamlin was fastest at the Watkins Glen road course with the fastest lap of the day on Saturday to win the provisional pole for Sunday’s GoBowling at the Glen, pending post-qualifying inspection Sunday morning.

Hamlin covered the 2.45-mile distance in 70.260 seconds (125.534 mph), edging Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch (125.427 mph) by .060 seconds. First-round leader Chase Elliott was third fastest in the final session at 125.421 mph, just .003 seconds slower than Busch.

“I had a great day today, and hopefully we can cap it off tomorrow,” said Hamlin, who earned his first provisional Busch Pole Award of the season, his first at Watkins Glen and the 27th of his career.

"It's been a tough two months, but you just work harder," Hamlin added. "It's made me work harder. It's going to be a process. It's definitely not going to happen overnight. Hopefully, in the next month we get things figured out so we can at least be contenders when it gets down to these cutoff races."

Hamlin is mired in ninth in the standings, nearly 300 points behind Busch, and has been consistently running just outside the top 10.

Joey Logano, who won the Xfinity race moments earlier, qualified sixth, followed by Aric Almirola, AJ Allmendinger, Erik Jones, Kasey Kahne, Ryan Blaney and Michael McDowell.

Truex and seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson fought to get back in the top 12 at the end of the opening round after dropping out. Truex climbed to fourth, dropping Johnson to 13th and out of the running for the 10-minute second round.

Kevin Harvick, tied with Busch for the series lead with six wins, also failed to advance and will start 16th.

Driver Date Time Speed
Track Qualifying Record: Jeff Gordon 08/10/14 68.126 129.466
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed Lap # # Laps -Fastest -Next
Qualifying Round: 2
1 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Ground Toyota 70.260 125.534 1 1 0.000 0.000
2 18 Kyle Busch M&M's Crunchy Mint Toyota 70.320 125.427 1 1 0.060 0.060
3 9 Chase Elliott SunEnergy1 Chevrolet 70.323 125.421 1 1 0.063 0.003
4 78 Martin Truex Jr. 5-hour ENERGY/Bass Pro Shops Toyota 70.418 125.252 1 1 0.158 0.095
5 42 Kyle Larson Credit One Bank/DC Solar Chevrolet 70.687 124.775 1 1 0.427 0.269
6 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 70.721 124.715 1 1 0.461 0.034
7 10 Aric Almirola Go Bowling Ford 70.820 124.541 1 1 0.560 0.099
8 47 AJ Allmendinger Kroger ClickList Chevrolet 70.891 124.416 1 1 0.631 0.071
9 20 Erik Jones buyatoyota.com Toyota 70.897 124.406 1 1 0.637 0.006
10 95 Kasey Kahne Procore Chevrolet 70.897 124.406 1 1 0.637 0.000
11 12 Ryan Blaney PPG Ford 70.951 124.311 1 1 0.691 0.054
12 34 Michael McDowell K-LOVE RADIO Ford 70.969 124.280 1 1 0.709 0.018
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed Lap # # Laps -Fastest -Next
Qualifying Round: 1
1 9 Chase Elliott SunEnergy1 Chevrolet 70.489 125.126 1 1 0.000 0.000
2 18 Kyle Busch M&M's Crunchy Mint Toyota 70.736 124.689 1 1 0.247 0.247
3 20 Erik Jones buyatoyota.com Toyota 70.754 124.657 3 3 0.265 0.018
4 78 Martin Truex Jr. 5-hour ENERGY/Bass Pro Shops Toyota 70.779 124.613 3 3 0.290 0.025
5 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 70.857 124.476 1 1 0.368 0.078
6 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Ground Toyota 70.919 124.367 3 3 0.430 0.062
7 42 Kyle Larson Credit One Bank/DC Solar Chevrolet 70.961 124.294 3 3 0.472 0.042
8 47 AJ Allmendinger Kroger ClickList Chevrolet 70.981 124.259 1 1 0.492 0.020
9 10 Aric Almirola Go Bowling Ford 71.030 124.173 3 3 0.541 0.049
10 12 Ryan Blaney PPG Ford 71.035 124.164 3 3 0.546 0.005
11 34 Michael McDowell K-LOVE RADIO Ford 71.051 124.136 1 1 0.562 0.016
12 95 Kasey Kahne Procore Chevrolet 71.077 124.091 3 3 0.588 0.026
13 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's for Pros Chevrolet 71.085 124.077 3 3 0.596 0.008
14 21 Paul Menard Menards/Sylvania Ford 71.146 123.970 3 3 0.657 0.061
15 1 Jamie McMurray GEARWRENCH Chevrolet 71.161 123.944 1 3 0.672 0.015
16 4 Kevin Harvick Busch Beer Ford 71.167 123.934 4 4 0.678 0.006
17 24 William Byron # Hertz Chevrolet 71.194 123.887 3 3 0.705 0.027
18 2 Brad Keselowski Wabash National Ford 71.196 123.883 3 3 0.707 0.002
19 14 Clint Bowyer Rush Truck Centers Ford 71.211 123.857 3 3 0.722 0.015
20 31 Ryan Newman Lucas Oil Chevrolet 71.233 123.819 3 3 0.744 0.022
21 41 Kurt Busch Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford 71.235 123.816 3 3 0.746 0.002
22 37 Chris Buescher Velveeta Chevrolet 71.235 123.816 3 3 0.746 0.000
23 19 Daniel Suarez STANLEY Toyota 71.298 123.706 1 3 0.809 0.063
24 88 Alex Bowman Nationwide Children's Hospital Chevrolet 71.387 123.552 3 3 0.898 0.089
25 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford Ford 71.406 123.519 3 3 0.917 0.019
26 3 Austin Dillon Dow Chevrolet 71.589 123.203 3 3 1.100 0.183
27 38 David Ragan Bad Boy Mowers Ford 71.617 123.155 3 3 1.128 0.028
28 6 Matt Kenseth NESN Ford 71.871 122.720 3 3 1.382 0.254
29 * 96 Parker Kligerman(i) Gaunt Brothers Racing Toyota 72.038 122.435 3 3 1.549 0.167
30 32 Matt DiBenedetto Zynga Poker Ford 72.201 122.159 1 2 1.712 0.163
31 43 Bubba Wallace # Medallion Bank/Petty's Garage Chevrolet 72.224 122.120 3 3 1.735 0.023
32 13 Ty Dillon GEICO Chevrolet 72.328 121.944 3 3 1.839 0.104
33 72 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 72.791 121.169 1 2 2.302 0.463
34 15 Ross Chastain(i) Chevrolet 73.436 120.105 1 1 2.947 0.645
35 51 Josh Bilicki(i) Jacob Companies Ford 73.750 119.593 4 4 3.261 0.314
36 23 Spencer Gallagher(i) Allegiant Toyota 73.809 119.498 2 4 3.320 0.059
37 00 Landon Cassill StarCom Fiber Chevrolet 74.934 117.704 2 2 4.445 1.125

Ron Fleshman

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2018, Issue 8, Posted 12:45 AM, 08.05.2018