Hamlin went out twice in the final round of Saturday’s qualifying session – at the very beginning and the very end.
He posted the fastest average lap speed on his first run then topped it on his second at 125.298 mph – one of the few to improve on the second attempt.
The pole is Hamlin’s fourth this season and 40th of his career. It is also his third pole on road or street course, having also qualified first at Sonoma and the Chicago Street Course.
Unfortunately, Hamlin has yet to translate one of his poles into a win. He came closest at Chicago with an 11th place finish.
“I thought I executed those corners pretty good. I thought there were a few spots I feel like I could have gotten a little bit more, but you can’t nit pick when you’re that good,” Hamlin said.
“Shoutout to Toyota and this whole No. 11 team for bringing me a fast car.”
William Byron ended up second quick at 124.961 mph while last weekend’s race winner at the Indy Road Course, Michael McDowell, was third (124.949 mph).
Ty Gibbs and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five.
Completing the top-10 starting lineup were A.J. Allmendinger, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch and Corey LaJoie, who will make his career-best start.

Round 1 / Group A
Byron led the way in the first group with an average lap speed of 125.071 mph.
McDowell was second quick at 125.058 mph and Reddick was third fastest (124.995 mph).
Also advancing to the final round of qualifying from Group A were Gibbs and Hamlin.
Among those who failed to advance were Chase Elliott, who needs a win to make the playoffs; Austin Dillon, Alex Bowman and Mike Rockenfeller, who is driving Legacy Motor Club’s No. 42 Chevrolet this week.
Elliott was disgusted with himself after his final qualifying attempt, letting loose a string of profanities over his team radio once he returned to pit road.
“To me, this was the opportunity that we had that we have the most control over,” said Elliott, who will line up 15th. “I didn’t have a very good start to the weekend. It puts us in a tough spot.”

Round 1 / Group B
Allmendinger – who was fastest in Saturday’s practice – led the way in Group B with an average lap speed of 124.857 mph.
Larson was second fastest (124.752 mph) and LaJoie was third (124.638 mph).
Also advancing to the final round were Bell and Busch.
Among those who failed to advance out of Group B were Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace and Daniel Suarez, who nearly spun out in the area of the bus stop on his flyer lap.

Read More