Nashville starting lineup: Denny Hamlin earns second NASCAR Cup pole of season

Denny Hamlin will lead the field to the green flag in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Nashville Superspeedway (3:30 p.m. ET on NBC).

Hamlin earned his 42nd career pole in Saturday’s qualifying with a lap of 160.354 mph.

MORE: Nashville starting lineup

He will be joined on the front row by Josh Berry (159.749 mph). Berry tied his career-best starting spot in Cup. He enters the weekend after two consecutive top-10 finishes.

Christopher Bell (159.845 mph) qualified third. Kyle Larson (159.701) qualified fourth, marking his 10th top-five start of the season. Brad Keselowski (159.536) completed the top five.

Bell’s qualifying lap was better than Berry’s but starts in the second row after NASCAR changed earlier this month how its sets the lineup in the final round of qualifying, putting the fastest car from Group A and fastest from Group B on the front row regardless of it there were others faster.

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Joey Logano, who holds the final playoff spot with eight races left in the regular season, qualified 26th after a lap of 157.123 mph. Bubba Wallace, who is the first driver outside a playoff spot, qualified 24th after a lap of 157.221 mph.

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Justin Haley will start last in Sunday’s race and must drive through pit road after the start.