Hamlin wins pole for Coca-Cola 600

Denny Hamlin

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Denny Hamlin is out to prove he’s not giving up on making the Chase for the Sprint Cup, looking to score some victories to qualify for a wild card spot in the 12-driver Chase field.

Hamlin took a big step toward his goal by winning the pole for Sunday’s Coca Cola 600 during Thursday night’s qualifying session at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Hamlin was one of nine drivers to shatter the track record, posting a jaw dropping top speed of 195.624 mph in the no. 11 Toyota Camry – nearly two mph over the previous track record of 193.708 mph set by Greg Biffle last October –to knock Kurt Busch off the top for his 14th-career Coors Light Pole Award.

“We just ran real fast," said Hamlin. “We knew we had to improve from last week. We didn’t improve the way we wanted. All these guys here sucked up and made a helluva run.

“I knew I had to try and do everything I could, but the way our car drove I didn’t think it was that fast when I was actually making the lap. I just sat in turn one with 10 cars to go and just kind of closed my eyes and listened to each car go by and listened to what they were doing with their throttle and look at the board and see where they ended up. I took all that information and kind of put together what I thought it was going to take to run the fastest lap. We put it all together and it’s hard work and it pays off — all that’s good."

Kurt Busch held the second position with a speed of 195.221 mph, followed by Matt Kenseth (195.094), Mark Martin (194.595) and Clint Bowyer (194.503).

Hamlin’s pole was his first since topping qualifying for at Auto Club Speedway in March, a race that ended in a last-lap crash which resulted in a back injury that kept Hamlin out for four races and knocked him as far back as 31st in points.

Although Hamlin has little chance of making the top 10 in points to automatically qualify for the Chase, he still has an outside shot of capturing a wild card spot, which goes to two non top-10 drivers in the top 20 in points with the most wins.

“I think ultimately getting the big trophy on Sunday is the validation that you’re truly back," said Hamlin. “For me, it’s going to take some wins and some really good consistency throughout these summer months to put ourselves in position to have a chance at a championship. That’s what we’re here for.

“Even these small victories though give me that confidence that I’m still capable, and I’m still able to do the job at 100 percent like I should be. Any kind of confidence booster for me — it’s always a plus on Sunday."

Kurt Busch’s outside-pole winning effort was his second-straight front-row starting spot, looking to turn things around for his team which has had only four top-10 starts this season.

“It was an extremely fast car," said Busch. “Those guys keep delivering pole-winning-type cars each and every week when we’ve been unloading. I just didn’t quite hit my mark exactly right in (Turns) 3 & 4, and I knew that we might get beat by somebody. I was just hoping we might get a gift. But Denny Hamlin laid it down.

“I’m just leaning on the team. And they keep building better and better cars. To have that confidence in them, just like we unloaded today and ran a ridiculous lap time, we ran a 28.20 and the other guys are running 28.50’s. When you have that confidence to lay the right pedal down and it sticks, it’s a great feeling."

Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, Jamie McMurray and Ryan Newman rounded out the top ten qualifiers. Mike Bliss was the only driver to fail to qualify for Sunday’s race.

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