By Nate Ryan
DOVER, Del. — Denny Hamlin’s newfound affair with Dover International Speedway seems off to a torrid start.
After the Chase for the Sprint Cup contender was advised by a sports psychologist this week to “fall in love” with the 1-mile oval that has befuddled him, Hamlin captured his first pole position at Dover with a 159.299-mph lap Saturday.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver, coming off a victory a New Hampshire Motor Speedway and trailing Chase leader Jimmie Johnson by seven points, said his third pole of the season and12th of his career was at least partially attributable to carrying a better frame of mind into the track that is his worst of the Chase.
“It’s probably 75 percent car and 25 percent driver in that sense,” said Hamlin, who will start today’s AAA 400 ahead of Michael Waltrip Racing teammates Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex Jr. “I think there’s a lot of drivers out there that could be able to do what I do with the cars that (crew chief) Darian (Grubb) has been giving me the last few weeks. I’m going to give him pretty much all the credit and ride his back as long as it will hold me.”
Hamlin’s previous best start had been third twice — in September 2007 and September 2008. The top qualifying spot will yield the first pit stall on a track with a notoriously tight pit road and also will afford the opportunity to avoid falling behind early on the lightning-fast concrete where losing a lap can be easy.
Perhaps most importantly, the pole was a shot of confidence for Hamlin, who has been fixated on his Dover deficiencies to the point where he still was analyzing them from the top starting spot.
“Mentally, we had two decent prac- tices (Friday), and if you qualified not as well as we did then you start to think, ‘Are we going be heading right back to our old ways at this racetrack?’ ” Hamlin said. “From a confidence standpoint, when you get the pole it’s a testament to the equipment that you have — from the cars to the motors to the guys that are putting these bodies on these cars. I think that right now we have everything rolling, and that part of it is giving me a ton of confidence.
“The strategic part of it is that the Number 1 pit stall here is very, very crucial. We’ve seen in the past that track position is second-to-none here, and I think that we’re going to need that with tuning our car. A lot of times we’ve been caught in the middle of the pack and not able to tune our car because we didn’t know what we had. We know what we’ve got now, and we’ve just got to execute and make sure we have a flawless day.”
Though he has won three of the past five races in Cup, it’d be tough to brand Hamlin a favorite at a track where he has finished outside the top 15 in eight of the past 10 races and the 15th-ranked driver rating in Cup.
Asked for the drivers to beat today, Hamlin listed the Toyotas of Bowyer, Truex and Kyle Busch as well as the Chevrolet of Kasey Kahne.
“All those guys in the top 10 are going to be very strong,” Hamlin said.
Starting in 11th, Johnson is expected be formidable as always.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver will start from his lowest position in four years, but he has won four of the past seven races while leading 1,719 of the past 3,200 laps at Dover and compiling a series-best driver rating of 120.6. Johnson is trying to sweep the season for the third time at Dover after tying Bobby Allison and Richard Petty in June with his record seventh victory at the track.
“(Johnson) is struggling this week- NASCAR-Sprint Cup-AAA 400 lineup After Saturday qualifying; race today At Dover International Speedway
Dover, Del. Lap length: 1 miles (Car number in parentheses) 1. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 159.299. 2. (15) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 159.264. 3. (56) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 159.2. 4. (22) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 158.758. 5. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 158.667. 6. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 158.541. 7. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 158.444. 8. (39) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 158.297. 9. (5) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 158.256. 10. (2) Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 158.151. 11. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 158.089. 12. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 157.992. 13. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 157.971. 14. (20) Joey Logano, Toyota, 157.971. 15. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford, 157.95. 16. (47) Bobby Labonte, Toyota, 157.819. 17. (6) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 157.784. 18. (78) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 157.653. 19. (27) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 157.604. 20. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 156.958. 21. (43) Aric Almirola, Ford, 156.924. 22. (83) Landon Cassill, Toyota, 156.829. 23. (26) Josh Wise, Ford, 156.631. 24. (14) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 156.597. 25. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 156.542. 26. (55) Mark Martin, Toyota, 156.488. 27. (9) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 156.297. 28. (51) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 156.23. 29. (91) Reed Sorenson, Toyota, 156.223. 30. (13) Casey Mears, Ford, 156.182. 31. (34) David Ragan, Ford, 156.02. 32. (98) Michael McDowell, Ford, 155.885. 33. (93) Travis Kvapil, Toyota, 155.709. 34. (95) Scott Speed, Ford, 155.44. 35. (42) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 155.38. 36. (23) Scott Riggs, Chevrolet, 155.253. 37. (87) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, 155.059. 38. (10) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 155.025. 39. (31) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 154.646. 40. (36) J.J. Yeley, Chevrolet, Owner Points. 41. (32) T.J. Bell, Ford, Owner Points. 42. (38) David Gilliland, Ford, Owner Points. 43. (37) Dave Blaney, Chevrolet, 155.025.
Failed to Qualify 44. (30) David Stremme, Toyota, 154.759. 45. (19) Mike Bliss, Toyota, 154.639. 46. (49) Jason Leffler, Toyota, 154.467. 47. (33) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 153.741. 48. (79) Kelly Bires, Ford, 153.682. end; he’s going to run about 25th all day,” Truex said with a laugh. “I think he’s sandbagging.”
Asked if he expected Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet to be strong, Bowyer turned to Truex and laughed.
“Hereally asked us if the 48 is going to be good here,” Bowyer said. “To be honest, I think he’s going to be extremely good (today). He always is.”