Denny Hamlin’s dismal qualifying run places him on the very again of the 38-car discipline. The lap was over two seconds off the tempo from the pole-sitter. He instantly took the ailing No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota again to the storage with a potential powertrain concern. The hood went up and the crew rapidly tried to evaluate the scenario beneath the watchful eye of NASCAR officers.
“They see a number of crimson flags, definitely,” Hamlin advised NBC Sports activities. “They will dig into it tonight, determine it out, and get it fastened for tomorrow.”
Hamlin should cross all the discipline on Sunday, however he’s assured they will be capable to “battle to the entrance. Our Camry goes to be fairly good tomorrow. We really feel fairly good about what we introduced, simply gotta get to the end.”
Michael McDowell, who had zero poles within the first 16 years of his profession, earned his fifth of the 2024 season at Atlanta on Saturday. Ford drivers certified 1st – fifth, persevering with a development the place the blue oval dominates the time charts at drafting tracks. Workforce Penske’s Ryan Blaney will line up alongside McDowell on the entrance row because the highest-qualifying playoff driver.
Watch: Michael McDowell sweeps poles at Atlanta in 2024
“I am simply so happy with everyone at Entrance Row,” stated McDowell. “We knew we had a shot, based mostly on Daytona, however to get this Mustang its fifth pole of the 12 months — we’re making an attempt to win probably the most poles. Simply hold preventing onerous, however actually happy with the trouble.”
He later added: “The nice factor for us was within the race our automobile raced very well and typically you trim them out and also you get a variety of velocity and also you’ll get into the race and it’ll simply be a handful, however we led a variety of laps, had a very quick automobile. I believed we had one of many higher driving vehicles, so I don’t really feel like we’re compromising something going into the race with the velocity that we have now, and it was the identical a pair weeks in the past in Daytona. I felt like we had one of many quickest vehicles there, so it’s nearly executing and being there on the finish and giving your self a shot at making an attempt to win the race.”
Todd Gilliland will begin third, Josh Berry fourth, and Austin Cindric fifth. Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, William Byron, and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top-ten.
Past the primary 5 rows, here is the place the playoff drivers are beginning: Alex Bowman eleventh; Harrison Burton twelfth; Chase Elliott sixteenth; Brad Keselowski nineteenth; Ty Gibbs twentieth; Martin Truex Jr. twenty second; Tyler Reddick twenty third; Christopher Bell twenty sixth; Daniel Suarez thirtieth; Denny Hamlin thirty eighth.
The primary stage at Atlanta is just 60 laps, so a green-flag cease will not be crucial. Due to this, beginning positions will likely be essential in gathering invaluable stage factors, however solely six of the 16 playoff drivers superior into the ultimate spherical of qualifying.
