Starting Lineup: NASCAR Cup Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington
Denny Hamlin took the pole position for Sunday's Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway with a lap time of 28.694 seconds (171.381 mph) in Saturday's qualifying session around the 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval.
Hamlin, who holds five career wins at Darlington (most among active drivers), won the Spring race at Darlington Raceway earlier this year.
Hamlin led a charge of 12 Playoff drivers, who swept the top of the qualifying results on Saturday morning. Chase Briscoe, Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, will start from the outside of the front row on Sunday.
Playoff drivers (qualifying position in parenthesis): Hamlin (1st), 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).
Related: The Biggest Takeaways from NASCAR Cup Playoffs Media Day
Cody Ware, who had a solid effort at Daytona last weekend, slapped the wall during his qualifying run, which resulted in a subpar 36th-place qualifying effort.
Here is the official starting lineup for Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Race 27 of 36.
Pos | Car | Driver | Lap time | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 11 | Denny Hamlin (P) | 28.694 | 171.381 |
2 | 19 | Chase Briscoe (P) | 28.715 | 171.255 |
3 | 21 | Josh Berry (P) | 28.829 | 170.578 |
4 | 45* | Tyler Reddick (P) | 28.848 | 170.466 |
5 | 5 | Kyle Larson (P) | 28.925 | 170.012 |
6 | 1 | Ross Chastain (P) | 28.933 | 169.965 |
7 | 20 | Christopher Bell (P) | 28.962 | 169.795 |
8 | 23* | Bubba Wallace (P) | 28.985 | 169.660 |
9 | 3 | Austin Dillon (P) | 29.004 | 169.549 |
10 | 2 | Austin Cindric (P) | 29.023 | 169.438 |
11 | 24 | William Byron (P) | 29.025 | 169.426 |
12 | 12 | Ryan Blaney (P) | 29.032 | 169.386 |
13 | 7 | Justin Haley | 29.060 | 169.222 |
14 | 22 | Joey Logano (P) | 29.080 | 169.106 |
15 | 17 | Chris Buescher | 29.082 | 169.094 |
16 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | 29.127 | 168.833 |
17 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | 29.172 | 168.573 |
18 | 41 | Cole Custer | 29.196 | 168.434 |
19 | 43 | Erik Jones | 29.216 | 168.319 |
20 | 88 | Shane van Gisbergen (P) # | 29.223 | 168.278 |
21 | 9 | Chase Elliott (P) | 29.226 | 168.261 |
22 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | 29.234 | 168.215 |
23 | 8 | Kyle Busch | 29.235 | 168.209 |
24 | 38* | Zane Smith | 29.245 | 168.152 |
25 | 71 | Michael McDowell | 29.249 | 168.129 |
26 | 77 | Carson Hocevar | 29.249 | 168.129 |
27 | 60 | Ryan Preece | 29.254 | 168.100 |
28 | 34* | Todd Gilliland | 29.263 | 168.048 |
29 | 48 | Alex Bowman (P) | 29.269 | 168.014 |
30 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | 29.327 | 167.682 |
31 | 10 | Ty Dillon | 29.338 | 167.619 |
32 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | 29.401 | 167.260 |
33 | 35* | Riley Herbst # | 29.445 | 167.010 |
34 | 4* | Noah Gragson | 29.511 | 166.636 |
35 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 29.663 | 165.782 |
36 | 51 | Cody Ware | 29.997 | 163.936 |
37 | 44* | Derek Kraus | 30.451 | 161.492 |
38 | 66* | Timmy Hill (i) | 31.025 | 158.504 |
(P) indicates Playoff driver
# indicates Rookie of the Year contender
* indicates "Open" entry
(i) indiciates a driver ineligible to score points
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Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.
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