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Bristol NASCAR Sprint Cup: Denny Hamlin on pole for Joe Gibbs

Denny Hamlin will start Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway from pole, as Joe Gibbs Racing secured a second consecutive top three lockout in qualifying

Hamlin posted a record lap of 14.602 seconds in the final round of qualifying to secure his second pole of 2015 and his third at Bristol.

JGR team-mates Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards made it a clean sweep of the top three, the trio of drivers covered by just 0.084s. Busch had led the opening round of qualifying.

David Ragan was fourth for the troubled Michael Waltrip Racing, with Penske's Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski fifth and sixth fastest, and Kevin Harvick seventh.

Clint Bowyer will start ninth to give MWR two cars in the top 10, ahead of Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch - who interrupted the JGR run briefly to head the second round of qualifying for Stewart-Haas - and opening practice pacesetter Kyle Larson.

Michigan winner Matt Kenseth narrowly missed out on a spot in the final round to Ragan so became the only JGR driver left out of the top 12 shootout and starts 13th.

Ryan Newman was the best of the drivers provisionally in the Chase to drop out in round two, qualifying 18th, ahead of Kasey Kahne in 19th, Dale Earnhardt Jr 20th and Jamie McMurray 21st.

Martin Truex Jr was another to struggle in round two and will start from 23rd, with five-time Bristol winner Jeff Gordon 24th.

Aric Almirola slumped to 31st position after a practice crash, while three-time Cup champion Tony Stewart was just 40th in his Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.

QUALIFYING RESULTS:

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap
1 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 14.602s -
2 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 14.618s 0.016s
3 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 14.686s 0.084s
4 David Ragan Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 14.708s 0.106s
5 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 14.721s 0.119s
6 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 14.723s 0.121s
7 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 14.726s 0.124s
8 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 14.746s 0.144s
9 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 14.754s 0.152s
10 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 14.766s 0.164s
11 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 14.823s 0.221s
12 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 14.892s 0.290s
13 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 14.797s -
14 Justin Allgaier HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 14.834s -
15 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 14.850s -
16 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 14.857s -
17 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 14.895s -
18 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 14.909s -
19 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 14.920s -
20 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 14.928s -
21 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 14.960s -
22 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 14.968s -
23 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 14.972s -
24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 14.992s -
25 A.J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 14.925s -
26 Sam Hornish Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 14.961s -
27 Brett Moffitt Front Row Motorsports Ford 14.970s -
28 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 15.000s -
29 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 15.014s -
30 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Ford 15.037s -
31 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 15.042s -
32 Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 15.045s -
33 Cole Whitt Front Row Motorsports Ford 15.054s -
34 Josh Wise Go FAS Racing Ford 15.065s -
35 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 15.080s -
36 Alex Bowman Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 15.084s -
37 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 15.113s -
38 J.J. Yeley BK Racing Toyota 15.130s -
39 Landon Cassill Hillman Smith Motorsports Chevrolet 15.151s -
40 Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 15.161s -
41 Timmy Hill Phil Parsons Racing Chevrolet 15.221s -
42 Matt DiBenedetto BK Racing Toyota 15.278s -
43 Mike Bliss Circle Sport Chevrolet 15.293s -
44 Travis Kvapil The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 15.163s -
45 Jeb Burton BK Racing Toyota 15.240s -
46 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Ford 15.332s -

44-46 are non-qualifiers

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