Denny Hamlin opened up the round of 8 of the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs by taking the pole position for the First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin opened up the round of 8 of the four-round, 10-race 2019 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs by taking the pole position for the First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway, the 33rd of 36 races on the complete 2019 schedule.
Hamlin took the pole position for this 500-lap race around the four-turn, 0.526-mile (0.847-kilometer) Martinsville Speedway oval in Ridgeway, Virginia by recording a top lap time of 19.354 seconds (97.840 miles per hour) in his #11 Toyota in the single-car qualifying session for this race.
Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott qualified in second place in his #9 Chevrolet, but he is set to start from the rear of the field after his engine blew in the opening practice session for the race and he had to get it replaced.
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Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. qualified in third place in his #19 Toyota ahead of Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola, the highest qualifying Ford driver for the race, in fourth in his #10 Ford.
Front Row Motorsports’ Michael McDowell qualified in a career-high fifth place in his #34 Ford just one week after tying his career-high with a sixth place qualifying effort for the round of 12 finale at Kansas Speedway.
Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Clint Bowyer, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Erik Jones, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Daniel Suarez and Team Penske’s Joey Logano rounded out the top 10 by qualifying in sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th place in their #12 Ford, #14 Ford, #20 Toyota, #41 Ford and #22 Ford, respectively.
With Elliott set to start the race at the rear of the field, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, who qualified in 11th place in his #24 Chevrolet, is set to be the highest running Chevrolet driver at the drop of the green flag.
Here are the full qualifying results for the 2019 First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
NOTE: Round of 8 playoff drivers are listed in italics.
Qualifying Results
1st – Denny Hamlin
2nd – Chase Elliott
3rd – Martin Truex Jr.
4th – Aric Almirola
5th – Michael McDowell
6th – Ryan Blaney
7th – Clint Bowyer
8th – Erik Jones
9th – Daniel Suarez
10th – Joey Logano
11th – William Byron
12th – Matt DiBenedetto
13th – Kyle Busch
14th – Kyle Larson
15th – Brad Keselowski
16th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
17th – David Ragan
18th – Daniel Hemric
19th – Alex Bowman
20th – Chris Buescher
21st – Ryan Preece
22nd – Kevin Harvick
23rd – Austin Dillon
24th – Jimmie Johnson
25th – Kurt Busch
26th – Darrell Wallace Jr.
27th – Ryan Newman
28th – Corey LaJoie
29th – Ty Dillon
30th – Paul Menard
31st – Matt Crafton
32nd – Landon Cassill
33rd – B.J. McLeod
34th – Reed Sorenson
35th – J.J. Yeley
36th – Ross Chastain
37th – Timmy Hill
38th – Garrett Smithley
NBC Sports Network’s live broadcast of the opening race of the round of 8 of the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs from Martinsville Speedway is set to begin at 3:00 p.m. ET tomorrow afternoon. Be sure not to miss the First Data 500.