Hamlin nets third pole of season at Darlington

DARLINGTON, S.C.—Denny Hamlin will lead the field to the green flag Sunday night after winning the pole for the Bojangles’ Southern 500.

Hamlin posted the fastest lap time in final round of qualifying Saturday at Darlington Raceway, good enough to earn his third pole of 2018 in four races and 29th of his career in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

Hamlin is now tied with Ricky Rudd for 25th on the all-time poles list. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver enters as the defending race winner and the site of his last MENCS win.

Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman and Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five starters.

Jeffrey Earnhardt was the only driver who did not record a lap time in qualifying, spinning out of Turn 2 and making contact with the inside retaining wall along the backstretch.

Television coverage of the Bojangles’ Southern 500 will be on NBCSN at 6 p.m. ET.

STARTING LINEUP
1) No. 11 Denny Hamlin
2) No. 42 Kyle Larson
3) No. 78 Martin Truex Jr.
4) No. 88 Alex Bowman
5) No. 18 Kyle Busch
6) No. 31 Ryan Newman
7) No. 20 Erik Jones
8) No. 22 Joey Logano
9) No. 41 Kurt Busch
10) No. 24 William Byron
11) No. 9 Chase Elliott
12) No. 10 Aric Almirola
13) No. 2 Brad Keselowski
14) No. 21 Paul Menard
15) No. 6 Matt Kenseth
16) No. 19 Daniel Suarez
17) No. 14 Clint Bowyer
18) No. 3 Austin Dillon
19) No. 37 Chris Buescher
20) No. 48 Jimmie Johnson
21) No. 12 Ryan Blaney
22) No. 4 Kevin Harvick
23) No. 38 David Ragan
24) No. 47 A.J. Allmendinger
25) No. 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
26) No. 34 Michael McDowell
27) No. 43 Bubba Wallace
28) No. 13 Ty Dillon
29) No. 95 Kasey Kahne
30) No. 32 Matt DiBenedetto
31) No. 1 Jamie McMurray
32) No. 52 J.J. Yeley
33) No. 15 Ross Chastain
34) No. 72 Corey LaJoie
35) No. 00 Landon Cassill
36) No. 66 Timmy Hill
37) No. 51 B.J. McLeod
38) No. 99 Derrike Cope
39) No. 23 Joey Gase
40) No. 96 Jeffrey Earnhardt

SOURCES
Racing-Reference.info