Even after suffering a flat tire in practice, Denny Hamlin fought back in qualifying to secure pole position for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway.
Hamlin was the final driver on the track, and he denied home hero Carson Hocevar by just 0.018s with a pole lap of 36.901s.
This is Hamlin’s 50th career pole, and his second of the 2026 season. Only six drivers besides Hamlin have ever scored at least 50 poles and 50 race wins, and it’s an elite group that includes Richard Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip, and Bobby Allison.
“They did a really great job, accounting for the damage on the bottom side,” said Hamlin after his pole run. “They re-balanced it, and it felt like they did a really good job. It was a handful, it was all I wanted, certainly. Hats off to this whole Toyota team. That was surprising … I just noticed that I was chattering all the tires, it felt like, in the corners. It was the limit, for sure.”
Championship leader Tyler Reddick will start third, Ty Gibbs fourth, and Chase Briscoe. Four of the fastest five qualifiers were all Toyotas.
Chase Elliott will start sixth, Kyle Larson seventh, Christopher Bell eighth, William Byron ninth, and Erik Jones was impressive in tenth.
Qualifying recap
Berry spun exiting turn 4, reversed back to pits due to flat tires. Allmendinger had just started his qualifying run, so they needed to return to the pits to re-cool the No. 16 before giving it another attempt. Berry will start last on the grid after the spin, in P37.
After the first ten cars took a time, Bubba Wallace set the pace with a 37.133s lap, over three tenths clear of his closest challenger.
The first driver to knock him off the top spot was Byron, the 15th driver to go out. He held P1 until his Hendrick Motorsports teammate dethroned him, with Larson becoming the first driver to reach into the 36-second bracket.
Gibbs then took the fight to the Hendrick duo, eclipsing Larson by just 0.014s. However, he did not stay there for long, with home hero Hocevar rocketing to the top with a 36.919s lap.
Reddick got very close, just 0.010s adrift of Hocevar’s pole time. The Michigan native waited anxiously through the final group of cars, and was visibly disappointed when Hamlin knocked him off the top spot at the end of qualifying.
“It’s a testament to these guys, they do a really good job,” said Hocevar. “They’re building fast race cars. Yeah, I would have loved to have gotten pole there, but third in the Truck race, second in Cup qualifying, so hopefully that’s just a trend there. I would have loved to have that one … I feel really good about our race car so starting up front is going to be super important, I know it’s just qualifying, but damn, I didn’t know I wanted it this much. It would mean a lot for so many reasons.”
When asked if he felt bad for denying Hocevar at his home track, pole-sitter Hamlin said: “I remember Richmond, way back in ’06 or ’07, and trying to get a pole at my home track. I get it, I feel like that (a smidge) sorry for him.”
Some notables that struggled in qualifying include all of Team Penske and Trackhouse Racing. The Penske cars qualified 18th with Joey Logano, 19th with Ryan Blaney, and 31st with Austin Cindric. It was even more dismal for Trackhouse, with Shane van Gisbergen leading the charge in 30th, Ross Chastain 32nd, and Connor Zilisch 34th.
NASCAR Cup Michigan Starting Lineup
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