He'll need to be just about perfect if he wants to keep his hopes of winning the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series championship alive, and his Xfinity 500 race weekend at Martinsville Speedway got off to a perfect start.
Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin took the pole position for Sunday's 188-lap race around the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) high-banked Lincoln, Alabama oval in Saturday's qualifying session.
Hamlin, who sits 73 points behind Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson in the championship standings, despite leading all drivers in full-season points, earned the top spot by recording a top lap speed of 98.942 miles per hour in his No. 11 Toyota.
Hamlin is set to share the front row with teammate Ty Gibbs, after beating him to the top spot by 0.049 seconds. Larson, despite having had a seemingly ill-handling race car in practice, is set to start third, putting him in a strong position to simply collect as many points as possible to remain in firm control of the championship fight.
Here's a look at the full starting lineup for Sunday's Xfinity 500 at Martinsville. Note that pre-race penalties are not factored into the chart below.
NASCAR Cup Series playoff lineup at Martinsville Speedway
Order | Driver |
|---|---|
1 | Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
2 | Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
3 | Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
4 | Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford |
5 | Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford |
6 | Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford |
7 | Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
8 | William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
9 | Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
10 | Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford |
11 | Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
12 | Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota |
13 | Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford |
14 | Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
15 | Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota |
16 | Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
17 | Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
18 | Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford |
19 | Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
20 | Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
21 | Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet |
22 | Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
23 | Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford |
24 | Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
25 | Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
26 | Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
27 | Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota |
28 | Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
29 | Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
30 | Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
31 | Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
32 | A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
33 | Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
34 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet |
35 | John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
36 | Josh Bilicki, No. 66 Garage 66 Ford |
37 | Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet |
Live coverage of Sunday afternoon's Xfinity 500 is set to be provided by NBC beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action from the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season's penultimate race at Martinsville Speedway!
Add us as a preferred source on Google