Denny Hamlin blitzes Gateway for second straight Playoff pole
Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images
MADISON, Ill.—Denny Hamlin is perfect for the 2025 Playoffs—at least when it comes to qualifying.
With a lap at 139.190 mph (32.330 seconds) on Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, Hamlin claimed the pole position for the second time in two Playoff races and will lead the field to green in Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 (3 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Hamlin’s No.19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was 0.021 seconds faster than the No. 5 Chevrolet of Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson (139.099 mph), the only Playoff driver to participate in a Goodyear tire test at the 1.25-mile track in June.
The Busch Light Pole Award was Hamlin’s first at Gateway—and the first for Toyota—his third of the season and the 46th of his career, tying him with NASCAR Hall of Famer Junior Johnson for 11th all-time.
Coincidentally, Hamlin is also 11th on the career victory list with 58 but has converted only six of his pole-position starts into wins.
Hamlin enters the second race of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs second in the standings behind Darlington winner Chase Briscoe, who qualified third on Saturday at 138.902 mph. After a seventh-place finish from the pole at the Lady in Black, Hamlin is 43 points above the current elimination line for the Round of 12.
“We were able to, very similarly to last week, make some great adjustments from where we were in practice,” Hamlin said. “And again, there is so much that is different from practice to qualifying when you’re going for one lap.
“Air pressures at a track like this are dramatically different, certainly, the intensity from which I drive is a lot different in practice than qualifying. They gave me all of the adjustments that I needed to have a really good handling car there, and we were able to capitalize on it.”
Ross Chastain (138.855 mph) was fourth in time trials in the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. Ryan Blaney, who won at Iowa on the same tire combination in use this weekend at Gateway, qualified fifth at 138.752 mph in the fastest Ford.
With Playoff drivers accounting for the top nine starting positions, William Byron qualified sixth, followed by Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell and Austin Cindric. Tenth-place Zane Smith was the fastest non-Playoff driver in the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford.
Josh Berry, 19 points below the cut line after finishing last at Darlington, will start 12th, followed by 2022 Gateway winner Joey Logano, who comes to the second Playoff race three points below the elimination line.
Other Playoff drivers qualified as follows: Bubba Wallace 14th, Austin Dillon 15th, Shane van Gisbergen 18th, Chase Elliott 19th and Alex Bowman 25th.
NASCAR Cup Series
Starting Line Up by Row
World Wide Technology Raceway
Enjoy Illinois 300
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 9/6/2025 @ 06:27 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Austin Cindric 06/02/24 2:48:03 133.889
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 11 Denny Hamlin (P) Progressive Toyota 32.330 139.190
2 5 Kyle Larson (P) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 32.351 139.099
Row 2: 3 19 Chase Briscoe (P) Bass Pro Shops Toyota 32.397 138.902
4 1 Ross Chastain (P) Busch Light Chevrolet 32.408 138.855
Row 3: 5 12 Ryan Blaney (P) Menards/Pennzoil Ford 32.432 138.752
6 24 William Byron (P) Z by HP Chevrolet 32.467 138.602
Row 4: 7 45 Tyler Reddick (P) Jordan Brand Toyota 32.501 138.457
8 20 Christopher Bell (P) DEWALT Toyota 32.512 138.410
Row 5: 9 2 Austin Cindric (P) Freightliner Ford 32.571 138.160
10 38 Zane Smith Long John Silver's Ford 32.674 137.724
Row 6: 11 17 Chris Buescher Body Guard Ford 32.689 137.661
12 21 Josh Berry (P) Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford 32.698 137.623
Row 7: 13 22 Joey Logano (P) Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford 32.719 137.535
14 23 Bubba Wallace (P) McDonald's Toyota 32.739 137.451
Row 8: 15 3 Austin Dillon (P) Dow DayGlo Chevrolet 32.757 137.375
16 43 Erik Jones Family Dollar Toyota 32.760 137.363
Row 9: 17 16 AJ Allmendinger Celsius Chevrolet 32.764 137.346
18 88 Shane Van Gisbergen # (P) WeatherTech Chevrolet 32.765 137.342
Row 10: 19 9 Chase Elliott (P) NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 32.799 137.199
20 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 32.852 136.978
Row 11: 21 54 Ty Gibbs SiriusXM Toyota 32.889 136.824
22 8 Kyle Busch Rebel Bourbon Chevrolet 32.952 136.562
Row 12: 23 6 Brad Keselowski Consumer Cellular Ford 32.957 136.542
24 4 Noah Gragson Beef A Roo Ford 32.993 136.393
Row 13: 25 48 Alex Bowman (P) Ally Chevrolet 33.005 136.343
26 99 Daniel Suarez Choice Privileges Waffle Chevrolet 33.038 136.207
Row 14: 27 77 Carson Hocevar Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet 33.133 135.816
28 71 Michael McDowell Delaware Life Chevrolet 33.197 135.554
Row 15: 29 41 Cole Custer Haas/Andy's Ford 33.201 135.538
30 34 Todd Gilliland Morton Buildings Ford 33.230 135.420
Row 16: 31 7 Justin Haley Gainbridge Chevrolet 33.252 135.330
32 60 Ryan Preece BuildSubmarines.com Ford 33.282 135.208
Row 17: 33 35 Riley Herbst # Monster Energy Toyota 33.417 134.662
34 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ram Self Storage Chevrolet 33.538 134.176
Row 18: 35 10 Ty Dillon Draft Kings Chevrolet 33.635 133.789
36 51 Cody Ware Parts Plus Ford 33.650 133.730
Did Not Qualify: None.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 15 0 Ford 12 0
Toyota 9 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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