Denny Hamlin wins pole for NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at Las Vegas

Denny Hamlin will lead the NASCAR Cup Series field to the green flag in the most important race of the season so far. 

Hamlin won the pole for Sunday's South Point 400 with a lap of 29.213 seconds at 184.849 miles per hour. The race is the first race of the penultimate round of the Cup Series playoffs. 

Notable South Point 400 qualifying results 

Chase Briscoe will join his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate on the front row, with Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott and William Byron rounding out the top-five. Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, defending Cup Series champion Joey Logano and Ty Gibbs — who was fastest in practice on Saturday — completed the top-10. The top-six qualifiers were all playoff drivers. 

Other notable qualifying efforts include Chris Buescher in 11th, Shane van Gisbergen in 13th, 2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney in 14th, Ryan Preece in 16th and Kyle Busch in 32nd. 

Katherine Legge was the slowest driver in qualifying and will start 38th. 

Sunday's South Point 400 will go green shortly after 5:30 p.m. ET, with coverage on USA Network, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Pre-race coverage will begin at 4:30 p.m. ET on PRN and 5 p.m. ET on USA Network. 

Joey Logano is the defending South Point 400 winner, while Josh Berry won at LVMS in March.