Denny Hamlin Takes Martinsville Pole Ahead of Ty Gibbs and Kyle Larson

Denny Hamlin won the pole for Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway, giving his difficult championship pursuit a strong qualifying result. Hamlin turned a lap of 19.226 seconds at 98.492 mph on Saturday to lead Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs and points leader Kyle Larson.

Hamlin entered the weekend 73 points behind Larson. He has won six Cup races at Martinsville, including two editions of the fall event, and Saturday’s performance secured the 54th pole of his Cup career. Gibbs qualified at 98.241 mph, while Larson was third at 98.114 mph.

The pole was Hamlin’s sixth of the season and sixth at Martinsville, according to the qualifying statistics published by Jayski. It also gave him a 22nd top-10 starting position in 2026. Gibbs recorded his 25th top-10 start of the year and fifth in nine Martinsville appearances.

Austin Cindric qualified fourth and Joey Logano fifth. Ryan Preece, Alex Bowman, William Byron, Chase Elliott and Josh Berry completed the top 10 in a field of 37 cars. Larson improved on a practice session that had left him dissatisfied with his car’s pace, RACER reported.

Hamlin selected the first pit stall, with an opening ahead of his car. Gibbs chose stall 15, also with an opening in front. Pre-race inspection was completed without a team failing multiple times, according to the race information posted by Jayski.

Preece had led practice at 96.612 mph, ahead of Berry and Todd Gilliland. Ross Chastain recorded the fastest consecutive 10-lap average at 95.278 mph. Rookie Connor Zilisch qualified 19th. Sunday’s 500-lap race is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET on NBC, with stage breaks after laps 130 and 260. All 37 entered cars made the starting field. Gibbs trailed Hamlin by 0.049 seconds, while Larson’s qualifying lap left him 0.074 seconds behind the pole-winning performance Saturday.