Hamlin on Busch pole at Darlington
Denny Hamlin will start from pole position for the second weekend in a row in the Busch Series after being quickest in qualifying for the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 at Darlington Raceway
The Joe Gibbs driver claimed his second career pole at the 'Lady in Black', having started from pole position in the same race a year ago, before going on to get his first victory at the track.
Hamlin's lap of 29.448 seconds was nearly four tenths of a second faster than the Nextel Cup pole time set by Clint Bowyer with the Car of Tomorrow, despite Hamlin's Chevrolet Monte Carlo having around 100 horsepower less.
In fact, the top ten of the Busch qualifying session were faster than the fastest Cup qualifier.
Second among them was Chip Ganassi's David Stremme who was nearly two tenths of a second off from Hamlin, driving the No. 41 Dodge.
Greg Biffle was third in his Roush Fenway Ford, also lapping quicker than with his Cup car, while Australian Marcus Ambrose was an impressive fourth fastest in his first time at the intimidating 1.366- mile oval.
Points leader Carl Edwards ended up 15th and more than four tenths off pole, while race favourite Mark Martin, who makes his first start for Hendrick Motorsports, will line up 26th in the grid.
Pos Driver Make Speed Time 1. Denny Hamlin Chevrolet 166.993 29.448 2. David Stremme Dodge 165.967 29.630 + 0.182 3. Greg Biffle Ford 165.866 29.648 + 0.200 4. Marcos Ambrose Ford 165.570 29.701 + 0.253 5. Casey Mears Chevrolet 165.570 29.701 + 0.253 6. Matt Kenseth Ford 165.448 29.723 + 0.275 7. JJ Yeley Chevrolet 165.370 29.737 + 0.289 8. David Ragan Ford 165.336 29.743 + 0.295 9. Ward Burton Ford 165.286 29.752 + 0.304 10. Jason Leffler Toyota 165.103 29.785 + 0.337 11. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 164.976 29.808 + 0.360 12. Ryan Newman Dodge 164.921 29.818 + 0.370 13. Dave Blaney Toyota 164.910 29.820 + 0.372 14. Paul Menard Chevrolet 164.816 29.837 + 0.389 15. Carl Edwards Ford 164.722 29.854 + 0.406 16. Stephen Leicht Ford 164.678 29.862 + 0.414 17. Tony Stewart Chevrolet 164.551 29.885 + 0.437 18. Steve Wallace Dodge 164.485 29.897 + 0.449 19. Juan Montoya Dodge 164.303 29.930 + 0.482 20. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 164.166 29.955 + 0.507 21. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 164.090 29.969 + 0.521 22. Regan Smith Chevrolet 164.013 29.983 + 0.535 23. David Gilliland Ford 163.773 30.027 + 0.579 24. Mike Bliss Dodge 163.598 30.059 + 0.611 25. Bobby Hamilton Jr Ford 163.278 30.118 + 0.670 26. Mark Martin Chevrolet 163.256 30.122 + 0.674 27. Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 162.996 30.170 + 0.722 28. Jon Wood Ford 162.969 30.175 + 0.727 29. Scott Riggs Dodge 162.856 30.196 + 0.748 30. Brad Keselowski Chevrolet 162.748 30.216 + 0.768 31. Mike Wallace Chevrolet 162.737 30.218 + 0.770 32. Brent Sherman Chevrolet 162.614 30.241 + 0.793 33. David Reutimann Toyota 161.971 30.361 + 0.913 34. Aric Almirola Chevrolet 161.838 30.386 + 0.938 35. Jason Keller Chevrolet 161.673 30.417 + 0.969 36. Shane Huffman Chevrolet 161.365 30.475 + 1.027 37. Stanton Barrett Chevrolet 161.360 30.476 + 1.028 38. Todd Kluever Ford 161.212 30.504 + 1.056 39. Derrike Cope Chevrolet 160.822 30.578 + 1.130 40. Kyle Krisiloff Ford 158.796 30.968 + 1.520 41. Eric McClure Chevrolet 158.413 31.043 + 1.595 42. Ron Young Chevrolet 157.843 31.155 + 1.707 43. Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 157.605 31.202 + 1.754
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