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Fontana NASCAR: Denny Hamlin takes Cup pole

Denny Hamlin secured pole position for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Fontana in Friday's qualifying session

After a tumultuous few weeks that have featured a fine for criticising the quality of Cup racing and altercations with Joey Logano on and off track at Bristol, Hamlin put his driving back into the headlines with an early lap of 38.410 seconds.

The Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was able to hang on at the top with that mark and claim pole.

"It takes forever on this racetrack," Hamlin admitted after waiting for the rest of the field to try and beat his time.

"It's good to get a pole here, especially going out this early. It's a pretty good confidence boost that you've got a good race car."

Greg Biffle and championship leader Brad Keselowski were second and third in qualifying, but neither will start there. The two Fords both had engine failures during practice - very early in the opening session in Biffle's case - so will drop to the back for the green flag on Sunday.

That will make it a Gibbs one-two-three at the front, as Hamlin's team-mates Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth move up to start right behind him, followed by Hamlin's Bristol sparring partner Logano.

Bristol winner Kasey Kahne kicked himself for mistakes as he qualified 16th. All four Hendrick cars were between 15th and 19th, with Keselowski's points chasers Dale Earnhardt Jr and Jimmie Johnson 15th and 18th.

Among the smaller teams, Furniture Row's Kurt Busch and Germain's Casey Mears managed to get their cars up to 10th and 11th.

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                     Time     Gap
 1.  Denny Hamlin        Joe Gibbs Toyota             38.410s
 2.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford            38.458s  + 0.048s
 3.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Ford                  38.472s  + 0.062s
 4.  Kyle Busch          Joe Gibbs Toyota             38.476s  + 0.066s
 5.  Matt Kenseth        Joe Gibbs Toyota             38.567s  + 0.157s
 6.  Joey Logano         Penske Ford                  38.603s  + 0.193s
 7.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota               38.653s  + 0.243s
 8.  Tony Stewart        Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       38.738s  + 0.328s
 9.  Mark Martin         Waltrip Toyota               38.753s  + 0.343s
10.  Kurt Busch          Furniture Row Chevrolet      38.777s  + 0.367s
11.  Casey Mears         Germain Ford                 38.886s  + 0.476s
12.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet  38.901s  + 0.491s
13.  Clint Bowyer        Waltrip Toyota               38.945s  + 0.535s
14.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet          38.979s  + 0.569s
15.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet           38.998s  + 0.588s
16.  Kasey Kahne         Hendrick Chevrolet           39.051s  + 0.641s
17.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet  39.081s  + 0.671s
18.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet           39.121s  + 0.711s
19.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet           39.128s  + 0.718s
20.  Ryan Newman         Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       39.133s  + 0.723s
21.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                   39.162s  + 0.752s
22.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet          39.194s  + 0.784s
23.  Aric Almirola       Petty Ford                   39.195s  + 0.785s
24.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford            39.222s  + 0.812s
25.  Bobby Labonte       JTG Daugherty Toyota         39.291s  + 0.881s
26.  AJ Allmendinger     Phoenix Chevrolet            39.320s  + 0.910s
27.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet          39.340s  + 0.930s
28.  David Reutimann     BK Toyota                    39.382s  + 0.972s
29.  Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet            39.418s  + 1.008s
30.  Josh Wise           Front Row Ford               39.422s  + 1.012s
31.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr  Roush Fenway Ford            39.448s  + 1.038s
32.  David Stremme       Swan Toyota                  39.458s  + 1.048s
33.  Travis Kvapil       BK Toyota                    39.465s  + 1.055s
34.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford               39.671s  + 1.261s
35.  Michael McDowell    Parsons Ford                 39.760s  + 1.350s
36.  Landon Cassill      Circle Sport Chevrolet       39.760s  + 1.350s
37.  JJ Yeley            Baldwin Chevrolet            39.955s  + 1.545s
38.  Scott Riggs         Xxxtreme Ford                40.038s  + 1.580s
39.  Timmy Hill          FAS Lane Ford                40.118s  + 1.646s
40.  Danica Patrick      Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       40.155s  + 1.679s
41.  Mike Bliss          Humphrey Smith Toyota        40.369s  + 1.802s
42.  David Ragan         Front Row Ford               40.492s  + 1.889s
43.  Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota                 40.645s  + 1.992s

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