Dover NASCAR: Denny Hamlin beats Martin Truex Jr to pole
Denny Hamlin earned his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole position of the 2015 season at Dover, in a top 12 shootout separated by just 0.260 seconds
Although Hamlin had taken pole for the non-championship All-Star race, which he won, his Dover result was his first top spot of the year in a standard qualifying session at a championship round.
He pumped in a 22.483s lap to fight off strong competition from home favourite Martin Truex Jr.
Truex is second in the Cup standings heading into Sunday's event, having led the most laps over the last two races, but is still searching for his and Furniture Row's first win of the season.
Kyle Larson was consistently near the top of the timesheets through the various sections of qualifying and will start third, ahead of Matt Kenseth who took pole for the last round at Charlotte.
The man who has taken the most poles in 2015 so far, Joey Logano, managed fifth, ahead of points leader Kevin Harvick.
Greg Biffle made a breakthrough at Charlotte last week, finishing second to Carl Edwards, and he lines up seventh after topping the first segment in qualifying, with Edwards this time trailing him in eighth.
A host of big names missed the final segment of qualifying, headlined by Jimmie Johnson.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver is aiming to become the fifth driver in series history to post double digit wins at a single circuit. He currently has nine at Dover, and the 10th will have to come from 14th on the grid.
Just in front of Johnson was Stewart-Haas driver Kurt Busch, who came out late in the second segment to try and improve his time, but couldn't do so and starts 13th.
Johnson's team-mate Dale Earnhardt Jr will start 16th as he too missed the shootout. He claimed a place in the second segment at the expense of another of his Hendrick team-mates, Kasey Kahne, who missed out by one spot in 25th.
Also missing the chance to advance to the second instalment was AJ Allmendinger. He'll roll off 29th for Sunday's race, having started on the front row at Dover twice in his NASCAR career.
Jeff Green and Travis Kvapil missed out on qualifying for the race.
QUALIFYING RESULTS:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 22.483s | - |
| 2 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Chevrolet | 22.539s | 0.056s |
| 3 | Kyle Larson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 22.545s | 0.062s |
| 4 | Matt Kenseth | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 22.546s | 0.063s |
| 5 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 22.557s | 0.074s |
| 6 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 22.571s | 0.088s |
| 7 | Greg Biffle | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 22.573s | 0.090s |
| 8 | Carl Edwards | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 22.609s | 0.126s |
| 9 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 22.635s | 0.152s |
| 10 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 22.645s | 0.162s |
| 11 | Jamie McMurray | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 22.683s | 0.200s |
| 12 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 22.743s | 0.260s |
| 13 | Kurt Busch | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 22.657s | - |
| 14 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 22.668s | - |
| 15 | David Ragan | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 22.690s | - |
| 16 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 22.716s | - |
| 17 | Ryan Newman | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 22.747s | - |
| 18 | Paul Menard | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 22.760s | - |
| 19 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 22.761s | - |
| 20 | Clint Bowyer | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 22.764s | - |
| 21 | Casey Mears | Germain Racing | Chevrolet | 22.771s | - |
| 22 | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 22.773s | - |
| 23 | Aric Almirola | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 22.773s | - |
| 24 | Justin Allgaier | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet | 22.830s | - |
| 25 | Kasey Kahne | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 22.746s | - |
| 26 | Tony Stewart | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 22.773s | - |
| 27 | Brian Scott | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 22.779s | - |
| 28 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 22.832s | - |
| 29 | A.J. Allmendinger | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 22.834s | - |
| 30 | Alex Bowman | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet | 22.886s | - |
| 31 | Trevor Bayne | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 22.912s | - |
| 32 | David Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 22.922s | - |
| 33 | Danica Patrick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 22.980s | - |
| 34 | Michael Annett | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet | 22.983s | - |
| 35 | Jeb Burton | BK Racing | Toyota | 22.985s | - |
| 36 | Matt DiBenedetto | BK Racing | Toyota | 23.114s | - |
| 37 | Cole Whitt | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 23.205s | - |
| 38 | Brett Moffitt | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 23.296s | - |
| 39 | Josh Wise | Phil Parsons Racing | Ford | 23.310s | - |
| 40 | J.J. Yeley | BK Racing | Toyota | 23.342s | - |
| 41 | Brendan Gaughan | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet | 23.445s | - |
| 42 | Mike Bliss | Go FAS Racing | Ford | 23.471s | - |
| 43 | Landon Cassill | Hillman Smith Motorsports | Chevrolet | 23.579s | - |
| 44 | Travis Kvapil | Circle Sport | Chevrolet | 23.189s | - |
| 45 | Jeff Green | The Motorsports Group | Chevrolet | 23.535s | - |
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