NASCAR Cup Michigan starting lineup: Denny Hamlin snags pole from Carson Hocevar

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Even after suffering a flat tire in practice, Denny Hamlin fought back in qualifying to secure pole position for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway.

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Hamlin was the final driver on the track, and he denied home hero Carson Hocevar by just 0.018s with a pole lap of 36.901s.

This is Hamlin's 50th career pole, and his second of the 2026 season. Only six drivers besides Hamlin have ever scored at least 50 poles and 50 race wins, and it's an elite group that includes Richard Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip, and Bobby Allison.

"They did a really great job, accounting for the damage on the bottom side," said Hamlin after his pole run. "They re-balanced it, and it felt like they did a really good job. It was a handful, it was all I wanted, certainly. Hats off to this whole Toyota team. That was surprising ... I just noticed that I was chattering all the tires, it felt like, in the corners. It was the limit, for sure."

Championship leader Tyler Reddick will start third, Ty Gibbs fourth, and Chase Briscoe. Four of the fastest five qualifiers were all Toyotas.

Chase Elliott will start sixth, Kyle Larson seventh, Christopher Bell eighth, William Byron ninth, and Erik Jones was impressive in tenth.

Qualifying recap

Berry spun exiting turn 4, reversed back to pits due to flat tires. Allmendinger had just started his qualifying run, so they needed to return to the pits to re-cool the No. 16 before giving it another attempt. Berry will start last on the grid after the spin, in P37.

After the first ten cars took a time, Bubba Wallace set the pace with a 37.133s lap, over three tenths clear of his closest challenger. 

The first driver to knock him off the top spot was Byron, the 15th driver to go out. He held P1 until his Hendrick Motorsports teammate dethroned him, with Larson becoming the first driver to reach into the 36-second bracket.

Gibbs then took the fight to the Hendrick duo, eclipsing Larson by just 0.014s. However, he did not stay there for long, with home hero Hocevar rocketing to the top with a 36.919s lap.

Reddick got very close, just 0.010s adrift of Hocevar's pole time. The Michigan native waited anxiously through the final group of cars, and was visibly disappointed when Hamlin knocked him off the top spot at the end of qualifying.

"It's a testament to these guys, they do a really good job," said Hocevar. "They're building fast race cars. Yeah, I would have loved to have gotten pole there, but third in the Truck race, second in Cup qualifying, so hopefully that's just a trend there. I would have loved to have that one ... I feel really good about our race car so starting up front is going to be super important, I know it's just qualifying, but damn, I didn't know I wanted it this much. It would mean a lot for so many reasons."

When asked if he felt bad for denying Hocevar at his home track, pole-sitter Hamlin said: "I remember Richmond, way back in '06 or '07, and trying to get a pole at my home track. I get it, I feel like that (a smidge) sorry for him."

Some notables that struggled in qualifying include all of Team Penske and Trackhouse Racing. The Penske cars qualified 18th with Joey Logano, 19th with Ryan Blaney, and 31st with Austin Cindric. It was even more dismal for Trackhouse, with Shane van Gisbergen leading the charge in 30th, Ross Chastain 32nd, and Connor Zilisch 34th. 

NASCAR Cup Michigan Starting Lineup

Cla Driver #   Manufacturer Time Mph 111 Toyota

36.901

195.117277 Chevrolet

+0.018

36.919

195.022345 Toyota

+0.028

36.929

194.969454 Toyota

+0.052

36.953

194.842519 Toyota

+0.055

36.956

194.82669 Chevrolet

+0.057

36.958

194.81675 Chevrolet

+0.066

36.967

194.768820 Toyota

+0.102

37.003

194.579924 Chevrolet

+0.137

37.038

194.3951043 Toyota

+0.189

37.090

194.122117 Chevrolet

+0.220

37.121

193.9601235 Toyota

+0.226

37.127

193.9291323 Toyota

+0.232

37.133

193.8981417 Ford

+0.285

37.186

193.6211541 Chevrolet

+0.304

37.205

193.5221638 Ford

+0.312

37.213

193.4811742 Toyota

+0.339

37.240

193.3401822 Ford

+0.356

37.257

193.2521912 Ford

+0.357

37.258

193.247203 Chevrolet

+0.376

37.277

193.1492171 Chevrolet

+0.376

37.277

193.149224 Ford

+0.440

37.341

192.8182347 Chevrolet

+0.441

37.342

192.8122410 Chevrolet

+0.507

37.408

192.4722516 Chevrolet

+0.556

37.457

192.220266 Ford

+0.575

37.476

192.1232760 Ford

+0.650

37.551

191.7392833 Chevrolet

+0.652

37.553

191.7292948 Chevrolet

+0.660

37.561

191.6883097 Chevrolet

+0.661

37.562

191.683312 Ford

+0.766

37.667

191.149321 Chevrolet

+0.789

37.690

191.0323351 Chevrolet

+0.814

37.715

190.90534 TrackHouse Racing 88 Chevrolet

+0.819

37.720

190.8803534 Ford

+0.829

37.730

190.8303644 Chevrolet

+1.669

38.570

186.6743721 Ford

 

 

 

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