Hamlin claims Brickyard pole
Denny Hamlin claimed his second NASCAR Sprint Cup pole position of the season in qualifying for Sunday's Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver set a laptime of 49.244 seconds at an average speed of 182.793 mph, which beat the previous benchmark set by his team-mate Joey Logano.
Roush Fenway Racing's Carl Edwards, who enters the weekend with a new crew chief, came closest to beating Hamlin and will start from the front row of the grid.
"It's been a good day," said Hamlin. "We started off today not where we wanted to be speed-wise and car handling but we identified the problem with our car... It looked like [it] picked up speed and obviously it was a great qualifying lap.
"This is a great start to our weekend, knowing that we have the number one pit-stall, we have obviously a fast car and I have a great pit crew that's going to hopefully keep me up front all day.
"If you put me out front for the last run no one's going to get around me, I don't think."
Logano and Richard Petty's Aric Almirola made it a combination of Toyota and Ford in the first two rows of the grid, followed by Edwards' team-mate Greg Biffle, and the fastest Chevrolet of three-time Brickyard 400 winner Jimmie Johnson.
Kyle Busch was seventh, making it three Gibbs Toyotas among the top 10, followed by last year's event winner Paul Menard, four-time Brickyard winner Jeff Gordon and points leader Matt Kenseth.
Hendrick's Kasey Kahne had set the benchmark in practice with the fastest lap of the weekend during the opening session, but he had a disappointing qualifying and will only line up 15th in the order.
Brad Keselowski and former Indianapolis 500 winner Sam Hornish Jr were 22nd and 24th in the Penske Dodges respectively.
Wood Brothers' Trevor Bayne was the best of the non-guaranteed drivers in 18th, while Reed Sorenson and Joe Nemechek failed to make the cut on speed.
Michael McDowell had been fast enough in qualifying to make the grid but his car failed post-qualifying inspection and thus missed his spot in the race, giving his place to Mike Bliss.