There have been two qualifying sessions so far in the NASCAR Playoffs and Denny Hamlin has mastered both of them. He’ll lead the field to green in Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at Gateway.
The practice and qualifying session on Saturday was something of a question mark for drivers since NASCAR brought a new tire compound for the track this year, the same compound that debuted this year at Iowa Speedway. Hamlin praised his team’s ability to anticipate the changes and make quick adjustments.
“We were able to, very similarly to last week, make some great adjustments from where we were in practice,” Hamlin said. “They gave me all of the adjustments that I needed to have a really good handling car there and we were able to capitalize on it.”
As for what difference that tire will make on Sunday, Hamlin doesn’t expect the race to look very different to previous years’ since the teams have figured out how to make the cars equally comfortable.
“It wasn’t a ton different, truthfully,” Hamlin described.
“Obviously, the stagger was the biggest thing that changed in this tire, or this combination coming to this track, but truthfully, over the last year, the teams offset that difference with their setups, and I feel as though I couldn’t have told you one way over the another. It was not as dramatic as some of the tire changes that we’ve had at other racetracks.”
The first time he started on pole, Hamlin was able to drive to a seventh-place finish at Darlington, a strong result in a weekend when only four of the sixteen Playoff drivers finished in the top ten. He’ll be hoping the pole helps continue a strong performance this week.
The first nine spots in qualifying at Gateway were occupied by Playoff drivers, with Kyle Larson earning the outside pole and defending winner Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain, and Ryan Blaney starting inside the top five.
Of the other Playoff drivers, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, and Austin Cindric qualified sixth through ninth respectively. Josh Berry, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace, and Austin Dillon will start 12th through 15th respectively. Shane van Gisbergen will start 18th and Chase Elliott will start 19th.
The only Playoff driver to qualify outside of the top twenty was Alex Bowman who will start 25th. He acknowledged that Hendrick Motorsports has struggled at this track in the past, but he enters in a deficit in the Playoff standings and needs a good run after the team also struggled at Darlington.
The Enjoy Illinois 300 starts at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.
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