Denny Hamlin in the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry took pole position for the Championship 4 race at Phoenix.
The #11 Toyota Camry driver clocked a 26.914s to beat fellow Championship driver William Byron in the #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro to top spot.
Playoffs driver Kyle Larson was third in the #5 Hendrick Camaro while Chase Briscoe was an uncharacteristically low 12th in the #19 Joe Gibbs Camry.
“We’re trying,” said Hamlin.
“We’re doing everything we can. Really proud of this whole Progressive Toyota team. We’ve worked hard at it, we’ve really been working hard. Hopefully, we get the payoff tomorrow.
“We’re obviously going to be in a great starting spot at this point, then we’ve got to just make sure we do all the right things – execute the entire day and largely that’s going to rest on my shoulders. I’ll do the best I can.”
Byron said his qualifying lap wasn’t perfect.
“It’s always chaotic here. You’re coming to green here with a lot of speed,” said Byron.
“I cut the dogleg and felt like it was just a little rougher than I thought it would be through there.
“On my lap, I thought I hit turn one, just couldn’t quite commit to the throttle off both corners.
“Just felt like I was right on the edge of grip and didn’t want to have a slip and lose pace.
“Happy with it. I feel like we’re right there in the mix, right where we need to be, good pit stall, so really happy with today.”
New Zealand’s Shane van Gisbergen improved on his practice performance of 36th to qualify 31st in the #88 Trackhouse Racing Camaro.
Van Gisbergen’s teammates Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez qualified 13th and 14th respectively in the #1 and #99 cars.
Monday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship race gets underway at 7am AEDT with coverage live and exclusively on Fox Sports and Kayo Sports.
Results: NASCAR Cup Series Championship Qualifying, Phoenix Raceway
Pos
Num
Driver
Team
Car
Lap
Diff
Gap
1
11
Denny Hamlin (P)
Joe Gibbs Racing
Toyota Camry
26.914
2
24
William Byron (P)
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
26.956
0.042
0.042
3
5
Kyle Larson (P)
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
26.979
0.065
0.023
4
2
Austin Cindric
Team Penske
Ford Mustang
27.017
0.103
0.038
5
12
Ryan Blaney
Team Penske
Ford Mustang
27.029
0.115
0.012
6
77
Carson Hocevar
Spire Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
27.039
0.125
0.010
7
21
Josh Berry
Wood Brothers Racing
Ford Mustang
27.093
0.179
0.054
8
48
Alex Bowman
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
27.094
0.180
0.001
9
17
Chris Buescher
RFK Racing
Ford Mustang
27.111
0.197
0.017
10
22
Joey Logano
Team Penske
Ford Mustang
27.119
0.205
0.008
11
8
Kyle Busch
Richard Childress Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
27.129
0.215
0.010
12
19
Chase Briscoe (P)
Joe Gibbs Racing
Toyota Camry
27.133
0.219
0.004
13
1
Ross Chastain
Trackhouse Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
27.137
0.223
0.004
14
99
Daniel Suarez
Trackhouse Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
27.143
0.229
0.006
15
43
Erik Jones
Legacy Motor Club
Toyota Camry
27.154
0.240
0.011
16
47
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Hyak Motorsport
Chevrolet Camaro
27.172
0.258
0.018
17
9
Chase Elliott
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
27.176
0.262
0.004
18
4
Noah Gragson
Front Row Motorsports
Ford Mustang
27.184
0.270
0.008
19
6
Brad Keselowski
RFK Racing
Ford Mustang
27.189
0.275
0.005
20
20
Christopher Bell
Joe Gibbs Racing
Toyota Camry
27.196
0.282
0.007
21
60
Ryan Preece
RFK Racing
Ford Mustang
27.197
0.283
0.001
22
38
Zane Smith
Front Row Motorsports
Ford Mustang
27.218
0.304
0.021
23
23
Bubba Wallace
23XI Racing
Toyota Camry
27.219
0.305
0.001
24
45
Tyler Reddick
23XI Racing
Toyota Camry
27.22
0.306
0.001
25
54
Ty Gibbs
Joe Gibbs Racing
Toyota Camry
27.238
0.324
0.018
26
3
Austin Dillon
Richard Childress Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
27.243
0.329
0.005
27
41
Cole Custer
Haas Factory Racing
Ford Mustang
27.244
0.330
0.001
28
42
John Hunter Nemechek
Legacy Motor Club
Toyota Camry
27.251
0.337
0.007
29
7
Justin Haley
Spire Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
27.3
0.386
0.049
30
34
Todd Gilliland
Front Row Motorsports
Ford Mustang
27.306
0.392
0.006
31
88
Shane Van Gisbergen
Trackhouse Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
27.316
0.402
0.010
32
35
Riley Herbst
23XI Racing
Toyota Camry
27.359
0.445
0.043
33
51
Cody Ware
Rick Ware Racing
Ford Mustang
27.445
0.531
0.086
34
10
Ty Dillon
Kaulig Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
27.522
0.608
0.077
35
44
JJ Yeley
NY Racing Team
Chevrolet Camaro
27.72
0.806
0.198
36
66
Casey Mears
Garage 66
Ford Mustang
27.765
0.851
0.045
37
71
Michael McDowell
Spire Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
27.959
1.045
0.194
38
16
AJ Allmendinger
Kaulig Racing
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