Denny Hamlin's dismal qualifying run puts him at the very back of the 38-car field. The lap was over two seconds off the pace from the pole-sitter. He immediately took the ailing No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota back to the garage with a possible powertrain issue. The hood went up and the crew quickly tried to assess the situation under the watchful eye of NASCAR officials.
"They see a few red flags, certainly," Hamlin told NBC Sports. "They'll dig into it tonight, figure it out, and get it fixed for tomorrow."
SUNDAY UPDATE: Hamlin's JGR teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs will also start from the rear of the field after changing the plug wires. Bell was the only JGR driver to not make a change and will keep his starting position.
Hamlin will have to pass the entire field on Sunday, but he is confident they'll be able to "battle to the front. Our Camry is going to be pretty good tomorrow. We feel pretty good about what we brought, just gotta get to the finish."
Michael McDowell, who had zero poles in the first 16 years of his career, earned his fifth of the 2024 season at Atlanta on Saturday. Ford drivers qualified 1st - 5th, continuing a trend where the blue oval dominates the time charts at drafting tracks. Team Penske's Ryan Blaney will line up alongside McDowell on the front row as the highest-qualifying playoff driver.
"I'm just so proud of everybody at Front Row," said McDowell. "We knew we had a shot, based on Daytona, but to get this Mustang its fifth pole of the year -- we're trying to win the most poles. Just keep fighting hard, but really proud of the effort."
He later added: "The good thing for us was in the race our car raced really well and sometimes you trim them out and you get a lot of speed and you’ll get into the race and it’ll just be a handful, but we led a lot of laps, had a really fast car. I thought we had one of the better driving cars, so I don’t feel like we’re compromising anything going into the race with the speed that we have, and it was the same a couple weeks ago in Daytona. I felt like we had one of the fastest cars there, so it’s just about executing and being there at the end and giving yourself a shot at trying to win the race.”
Todd Gilliland will start third, Josh Berry fourth, and Austin Cindric fifth. Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, William Byron, and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top-ten.
Beyond the first five rows, here's where the playoff drivers are starting: Alex Bowman 11th; Harrison Burton 12th; Chase Elliott 16th; Brad Keselowski 19th; Ty Gibbs 20th; Martin Truex Jr. 22nd; Tyler Reddick 23rd; Christopher Bell 26th; Daniel Suarez 30th; Denny Hamlin 38th.
The first stage at Atlanta is only 60 laps, so a green-flag stop won't be necessary. Because of this, starting positions will be critical in collecting valuable stage points, but only six of the 16 playoff drivers advanced into the final round of qualifying.
| Cla | Driver | # | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Interval | Mph | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | M. McDowellFront Row Motorsports | 34 | Ford | 1 |
30.927 |
179.261 | ||
| 2 | R. BlaneyTeam Penske | 12 | Ford | 1 |
+0.073 31.000 |
0.073 | 178.839 | |
| 3 | T. GillilandFront Row Motorsports | 38 | Ford | 1 |
+0.085 31.012 |
0.012 | 178.770 | |
| 4 | J. BerryStewart-Haas Racing | 4 | Ford | 1 |
+0.141 31.068 |
0.056 | 178.447 | |
| 5 | A. CindricTeam Penske | 2 | Ford | 1 |
+0.146 31.073 |
0.005 | 178.419 | |
| 6 | K. LarsonHendrick Motorsports | 5 | Chevrolet | 1 |
+0.156 31.083 |
0.010 | 178.361 | |
| 7 | J. LoganoTeam Penske | 22 | Ford | 1 |
+0.156 31.083 |
0.000 | 178.361 | |
| 8 | A. DillonRichard Childress Racing | 3 | Chevrolet | 1 |
+0.193 31.120 |
0.037 | 178.149 | |
| 9 | W. ByronHendrick Motorsports | 24 | Chevrolet | 1 |
+0.203 31.130 |
0.010 | 178.092 | |
| 10 | C. BriscoeStewart-Haas Racing | 14 | Ford | 1 |
+0.204 31.131 |
0.001 | 178.086 |
| 11 | A. BowmanHendrick Motorsports | 48 | Chevrolet | 1 |
+0.246 31.200 |
0.033 | 177.692 | |
| 12 | H. BurtonWood Brothers Racing | 21 | Ford | 1 |
+0.254 31.208 |
0.008 | 177.647 | |
| 13 | N. GragsonStewart-Haas Racing | 10 | Ford | 1 |
+0.255 31.209 |
0.001 | 177.641 | |
| 14 | D. HemricKaulig Racing | 31 | Chevrolet | 1 |
+0.271 31.225 |
0.016 | 177.550 | |
| 15 | K. BuschRichard Childress Racing | 8 | Chevrolet | 1 |
+0.283 31.237 |
0.012 | 177.482 | |
| 16 | C. ElliottHendrick Motorsports | 9 | Chevrolet | 1 |
+0.303 31.257 |
0.020 | 177.368 | |
| 17 | C. BuescherRFK Racing | 17 | Ford | 1 |
+0.310 31.264 |
0.007 | 177.329 | |
| 18 | R. ChastainTrackHouse Racing | 1 | Chevrolet | 1 |
+0.318 31.272 |
0.008 | 177.283 | |
| 19 | B. KeselowskiRFK Racing | 6 | Ford | 1 |
+0.334 31.288 |
0.016 | 177.193 | |
| 20 |
T. GibbsJoe Gibbs Racing
|
54 | Toyota | 1 |
+0.349 31.303 |
0.015 | 177.108 | |
| 21 | R. PreeceStewart-Haas Racing | 41 | Ford | 1 |
+0.351 31.305 |
0.002 | 177.096 | |
| 22 | M. Truex JrJoe Gibbs Racing | 19 | Toyota | 1 |
+0.383 31.337 |
0.032 | 176.915 | |
| 23 | T. Reddick23XI Racing | 45 | Toyota | 1 |
+0.385 31.339 |
0.002 | 176.904 | |
| 24 | B. Wallace23XI Racing | 23 | Toyota | 1 |
+0.401 31.355 |
0.016 | 176.814 | |
| 25 | C. LajoieSpire Motorsports | 7 | Chevrolet | 1 |
+0.434 31.388 |
0.033 | 176.628 | |
| 26 | C. BellJoe Gibbs Racing | 20 | Toyota | 1 |
+0.486 31.440 |
0.052 | 176.336 | |
| 27 | R. Stenhouse JrJTG Daugherty Racing | 47 | Chevrolet | 1 |
+0.487 31.441 |
0.001 | 176.330 | |
| 28 | S. van GisbergenKaulig Racing | 16 | Chevrolet | 1 |
+0.503 31.457 |
0.016 | 176.241 | |
| 29 | J. HaleyRick Ware Racing | 51 | Ford | 1 |
+0.525 31.479 |
0.022 | 176.117 | |
| 30 | D. SuarezTrackHouse Racing | 99 | Chevrolet | 1 |
+0.534 31.488 |
0.009 | 176.067 | |
| 31 | C. WareRick Ware Racing | 15 | Ford | 1 |
+0.594 31.548 |
0.060 | 175.732 | |
| 32 |
C. HocevarSpire Motorsports
|
77 | Chevrolet | 1 |
+0.603 31.557 |
0.009 | 175.682 | |
| 33 | E. JonesLegacy Motor Club | 43 | Toyota | 1 |
+0.611 31.565 |
0.008 | 175.638 | |
| 34 |
Z. SmithSpire Motorsports
|
71 | Chevrolet | 1 |
+0.644 31.598 |
0.033 | 175.454 | |
| 35 | J. NemechekLegacy Motor Club | 42 | Toyota | 1 |
+0.709 31.663 |
0.065 | 175.094 | |
| 36 | B. McLeodLive Fast Motorsports | 78 | Chevrolet | 1 |
+1.297 32.251 |
0.588 | 171.902 | |
| 37 | J. YeleyNY Racing Team | 44 | Chevrolet | 1 |
+1.671 32.625 |
0.374 | 169.931 | |
| 38 | D. HamlinJoe Gibbs Racing | 11 | Toyota | 1 |
+2.112 33.066 |
0.441 | 167.665 |
