Denny Hamlin poses with the Coors Light Pole Award after qualifying for pole position for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Dover International Speedway. Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images
Call it the power of positive thinking if you want to, but Denny Hamlin would prefer to credit his car and his crew chief, Darian Grubb for Saturday’s pole-winning run.
Hamlin surprised himself by qualifying first for Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway, narrowly edging Clint Bowyer for the top starting spot in the third Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race.
With advice from sport psychologist Bob Rotella tucked neatly into his subconscious, Hamlin streaked around the Monster Mile in 22.599 seconds (159.299 mph) in Saturday’s time trials to claim his third Coors Light pole award of the season and the 12th of his career. Hamlin was .005 seconds faster than Bowyer, who circled the high-banked concrete track at 159.264 mph.
Martin Truex Jr. (159.200 mph) qualified third as Chase drivers in Toyotas swept the top three spots. Sam Hornish Jr. (158.758 mph) claimed the fourth starting spot, followed by Kyle Busch (158.667 mph).
Hamlin, who has a career average starting position of 14.8 at Dover, and a career average finish of 20.5, overcame his Dover-phobia, but later said the driver was only a quarter of the equation.
“I think probably 75 percent was the car and 25 percent the driver, in that sense,” said Hamlin, who won last Sunday’s Chase race at New Hampshire in dominating fashion. “I think there’s a lot of drivers out there who could be able to do what I do with the cars that Darian’s been giving me these last few weeks.
“So I’m going to give him pretty much all the credit and ride his back as long as it’ll hold me.”
Nevertheless, Hamlin managed to improve his performance dramatically at a track that simply doesn’t mesh with his driving style.
“I typically don’t run as strong on corner entry and use less brake,” Hamlin said. “It’s my M.O., my driving style at a lot of race tracks. Here, it just really rewards driving in hard, using brake and just matting it on exit. I’m typically better at throttle management on exit.
“I just think, for whatever, reason, between that and the concrete that I don’t have that good of a feel for, I just think it’s tough for me to change the way I’ve been driving for 20-some years when I come to this track. I’ve broken down a lot of film over these last few days, obviously to try to get better at it. That’s the only way you can continue to stay on top in this sport is to continue to evolve.”
Chase drivers Greg Biffle and Jeff Gordon qualified sixth and seventh, respectively. The other seven Chase drivers will start as follows: Kasey Kahne, ninth; Brad Keselowski, 10th; points leader Jimmie Johnson, 11th; Matt Kenseth, 12th; Kevin Harvick, 13th; Tony Stewart, 24th; and Dale Earnhardt Jr., 25th.
David Stremme, Mike Bliss, Jason Leffler, Cole Whitt and Kelly Bires failed to make the 43-car field.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Dover International Speedway – Dover, DE
AAA 400 Qualifying – Sept. 29, 2012
1 11 Denny Hamlin 22.599 159.299
2 15 Clint Bowyer 22.604 159.264
3 56 Martin Truex Jr. 22.613 159.200
4 22 Sam Hornish Jr. 22.676 158.758
5 18 Kyle Busch 22.689 158.667
6 16 Greg Biffle 22.707 158.541
7 24 Jeff Gordon 22.721 158.444
8 39 Ryan Newman 22.742 158.297
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10 2 Brad Keselowski 22.763 158.151
11 48 Jimmie Johnson 22.772 158.089
12 17 Matt Kenseth 22.786 157.992
13 29 Kevin Harvick 22.789 157.971
14 20 Joey Logano 22.789 157.971
15 99 Carl Edwards 22.792 157.950
16 47 Bobby Labonte 22.811 157.819
17 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 22.816 157.784
18 78 Regan Smith 22.835 157.653
19 27 Paul Menard 22.842 157.604
20 1 Jamie McMurray 22.936 156.958
21 43 Aric Almirola 22.941 156.924
22 83 Landon Cassill 22.955 156.829
23 26 Josh Wise 22.984 156.631
24 14 Tony Stewart 22.989 156.597
25 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 22.997 156.542
26 55 Mark Martin 23.005 156.488
27 9 Marcos Ambrose 23.033 156.297
28 51 Kurt Busch 23.043 156.230
29 91 Reed Sorenson 23.044 156.223
30 13 Casey Mears 23.050 156.182
31 34 David Ragan 23.074 156.020
32 98 Michael McDowell 23.094 155.885
33 93 Travis Kvapil 23.120 155.709
34 95 Scott Speed 23.160 155.440
35 42 Juan Pablo Montoya 23.169 155.380
36 23 Scott Riggs 23.188 155.253
37 87 Joe Nemechek 23.217 155.059
38 10 Danica Patrick 23.222 155.025
39 31 Jeff Burton 23.279 154.646
40 36 JJ Yeley Owner Points
41 32 TJ Bell Owner Points
42 38 David Gilliland Owner Points
43 37 Dave Blaney 23.222 155.025
Did Not Qualify: David Stremme, Mike Bliss, Jason Leffler, Cole Whitt, Kelly Bires
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