Hamlin top of the Toyotas, Van Gisbergen stellar in Chicago
CHICAGO — “Today was the single-best day at the track in my racing career,” Denny Hamlin said after winning the NASCAR Cup Series pole in Chicago.
Hamlin ran a lap of 88.436 seconds, 0.044 seconds ahead of Toyota teammate Tyler Reddick.
All six Toyota cars will start in the top 14. Christopher Bell, Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs and Bubba Wallace start fourth, 11th, 12th and 14th.
Shane Van Gisbergen was the best non-Toyota qualifier. In his Project91 Chevrolet, he stunned the field as one of the top 5 fastest drivers in practice and in Group B.
Van Gisbergen will start third after running a lap of 88.588 seconds in the final round of qualifying.
Fellow invader Jenson Button also made the final round of qualifying and was eighth-fastest, with a lap of 89.571 seconds (-1.135 seconds behind Hamlin).
The top 10 in qualifying are as follows: Hamlin, Reddick, Van Gisbergen, Bell, Daniel Suarez, Michael McDowell, Kyle Larson, Button, Joey Logano, A.J. Allmendinger.
There were several wrecks in practice and qualifying.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Justin Haley, Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott all had incidents.
Stenhouse and Haley hit the wall on the inside and bounced to the outside wall in similar-looking wrecks in practice.
Elliott hit the wall with his left-front fender after missing turn 3 and Harvick nosed into the wall in qualifying.
They will all go to the rear with backup cars.
Austin Cindric’s team repaired his car after he spun and nosed into the wall. William Byron also repaired damage on his car.
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com
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