Denny Hamlin wins pole for Cup Series race at Richmond

The NASCAR veteran won the 43rd pole of his illustrious NASCAR career on Saturday, despite being the slowest car to advance to the second round of qualifying. 

Hamlin will lead the field to green for Sunday's Cook Out 400 at the 0.75-mile short track. 

Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Martin Truex Jr, will line up beside him on the front row with Josh Berry, Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell rounding out the top five. Austin Dillon and Chris Buescher qualified sixth and seventh, respectively, with Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick rounding out the top 10. 

Other notable qualifying efforts from Saturday's session include Ryan Blaney in 11th, Kyle Busch in 12th, William Byron in 13th, Kyle Larson in 15th and Brad Keselowski in 29th. 

The Trackhouse entries of Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain will start 21st and 22nd, respectively, with Parker Retzlaff starting his Cup Series debut from the 37th starting spot. 

Buescher is the defending winner of the summer race at Richmond with Hamlin winning at the Virginia short track earlier in 2024. 

The Cook Out 400 at Richmond will go green shortly after 6 p.m. ET on Sunday evening with coverage on USA Network, MRN, the NBC Sports App and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.