Denny Hamlin Showcases Ability to Thrive in Chaos With Darlington Pole

From the courthouse on Thursday to his 45th career NASCAR Cup Series pole position on Saturday, it's been a busy week for Denny Hamlin, who has claimed for years that he thrives in chaos. As he kicks off his 19th run through NASCAR's Playoffs, he is truly proving it as he continues to shine on the track in 2025 despite a myriad of distractions away from the track, including 23XI Racing (the team he owns) being locked in an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR.

Now, he'll lead the field to the green flag on Sunday evening in the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway with a chance to add yet another crown jewel victory to his already NASCAR Hall of Fame-worthy career totals.

Starting Lineup: NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington

Hamlin's pole came by way of a 28.694-second (171.381 mph) lap time in Saturday's qualifying session, which as enough for him to narrowly top Chase Briscoe, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, for the pole position by a margin of 0.021 seconds.

Briscoe, who had previously scored poles in the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600, and Brickyard 400 this season was looking to sweep the pole position at all four of NASCAR's crown jewels in 2025, but came up just shy.

The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota entered qualifying nervous about the prospects of his car setup for the remainder of the weekend as he struggled mightily in practice. However, the driver credits crew chief Chris Gayle for making the perfect changes after a rough practice session, which allowed him to collect an important pole to kick off the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

"Truthfully, I didn't have a whole lot [of confidence]," Hamlin said about his race car. "A lot of it just came from the balance that I had in [Turns] 1 and 2. It was so superior to what I had in practice that I knew that I underdrove that corner, and then at that point, I figured I would just go deeper into Turn 3, and the result was good. It just stuck. They made great changes. We were average, at best, I felt in practice. But for one lap, they made the adjustments they needed to, and now we need to go to work to get that for the race trim."

Hamlin has amassed five NASCAR Cup Series wins at Darlington Raceway over the course of his illustrious career, more than any other active driver. The 44-year-old says that the track has always suited his driving style since he entered the series full-time in 2006.

"I don't know that I've qualified on the pole [at Darlington] that many times, maybe in Xfinity, but I don't know," Hamlin said when asked what it is about Darlington that brings the best out of him. "The way you have to race at this track, the amount of patience you have to have here, it just suits my driving style and it always has from the very beginning."

The racer is now optimistic about his chances to control the race on Sunday night as he will have premier track position, and with weather expected to be cooler than usual for the Southern 500, Hamline expects track position to be one of the most important factors in the race.

"I feel like what it does is it gives you the advantage to set the pace, and once you get to lapped cars, hopefully, you have something left," Hamlin said.

While the front row was swept by Joe Gibbs Racing drivers, who are both inside the Playoffs, the top-12 spots in qualifying were secured by Playoff contenders.

Josh Berry, who stated in a media availability on Saturday morning that his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing team is prepared and ready to contend in this event, locked down the third starting spot on Saturday morning, while Tyler Reddick, who continues to search for his first win of the season, qualified fourth.

Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon, and Austin Cindric rounded out the top-10 qualifiers for Sunday's Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

The top non-Playoff contender in qualifying was Justin Haley, who finished third last weekend at Daytona International Speedway. Haley will start from the 13th position at Darlington.

Here is where all 16 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff drivers will start from in Sunday's Playoff-opening race at Darlington:

Denny Hamlin (1st), Chase Briscoe (2nd), Josh Berry (3rd), Tyler Reddick (4th), Kyle Larson (5th), Ross Chastain (6th), Christopher Bell (7th), Bubba Wallace (8th), Austin Dillon (9th), Austin Cindric (10th), William Byron (11th), Ryan Blaney (12th), Joey Logano (14th), Shane van Gisbergen (20th), Chase Elliott (21st), and Alex Bowman (29th).

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