Hamlin Wins Pole For Sunday's Chase For The Sprint Cup

NFL News - October 10th, 2009 - Written by Jimmy

Denny Hamlin has finally accomplished something he hasn't all year. His car was not running well before qualifying Friday for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Fontana. His Joe Gibbs racing team took it back to the garage and whatever they did seemed to have worked. After struggling during qualifying all year, Hamlin grabbed the pole at Auto Club Speedway on Friday for the 500-mile race on Sunday as the Chase for the Sprint Cup continues.

"When you run so horribly in practice, you're at liberty to throw whatever you want at it and we just came up with a great setup," Hamlin said after winning his seventh career pole. "The only other time I can remember this situation happening was our first Pocono race. We were about 20-something in practice and horrible and we threw something at it and picked it up huge in qualifying and in the race as well."

Hamlin is is sixth in the standings heading into Sunday's race. Mark Martin is in the lead and followed by Jimmie Johnson who is 18 points behind. Hamlin has performed well this year, despite continually having to work his way toward the front of the pack after failing to win the pole all season. He won his last pole in 2008 at Richmond.

"We can just get more adjustments in to try and fine-tune the car and I think that's why a lot of times you'll see the guys that qualify up front, they'll finish up front because they get more opportunities to refine their car for the dash at the end," Hamlin said.

Johnson will start in the third position on Sunday and Martin is not far behind at ninth. Juan Pablo Montoya, who is third in the points standings, will start in the fourth spot. On the final lap of qualifying, Montoya 's car scraped the wall and his crew will do everything they can to avoid having to go with the backup car. David Reutimann, who finished eighth last week at Kansas, came in second during the qualifying race. However, after post qualifying inspections, he was sent to the back of the group due to the gas level limit in the rear shocks exceeding the allowed limit.

This race should give fans a good indication on who will be in the running to win the Sprint Cup. Kurt Busch, who fifth in the points standings, is only 91 points behind Martin.

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