Denny Hamlin sits on his first Southern 500 pole at Darlington

Denny Hamlin wins his first pole at Darlington.

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Defending Southern 500 winner Denny Hamlin will start Sunday’s race from the pole after posting a lap of 173.571 mph.

It is Hamlin’s 29th career pole and his third of the season.

Kyle Larson will start second after a lap of 173.411 mph. It is his best starting spot for this race. He was followed by Martin Truex Jr. (173.204 mph), Alex Bowman (173.155) and Kyle Busch (173.064).

Truex scores consecutive top-five starts at Darlington. Bowman had not qualified better than 34th at this track before Saturday. Busch will make his seventh consecutive top-10 start at this track.

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STARTING LINEUP