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Hamlin starts last in playoff opener after issue; McDowell on pole

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
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