NASCAR Cup Martinsville starting lineup: Denny Hamlin rockets to pole
Denny Hamlin took pole for the NASCAR Cup race at Martinsville by beating team-mate Ty Gibbs by 0.049s, the 54th of his career and his sixth of the 2026 season. He trails championship leader Kyle Larson by 73 points, and Larson needs to outscore him by four points on Sunday to clinch the title early.
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Denny Hamlin conquistou a pole para a prova da NASCAR Cup em Martinsville, batendo o companheiro de Joe Gibbs Racing Ty Gibbs por 0,049s — o 54º da carreira e o sexto dele na temporada 2026.
A volta importou: Hamlin está 73 pontos atrás do líder do campeonato, Kyle Larson, e precisava de uma resposta. Encontrou-a no oval de meia milha, onde tem seis vitórias na Cup, mais do que qualquer piloto em atividade.
“Sim, foi uma volta excelente”, disse Hamlin. “Na verdade, acertei todas as marcas que queria acertar. O carro fez boa parte do que eu precisava naquela primeira volta. Foi um trabalho realmente ótimo da equipe. Ótimos ajustes, e vamos ver o que temos amanhã.”
Larson, que precisa somar quatro pontos a mais que Hamlin no domingo para garantir o título antecipado, classificou-se em terceiro como o melhor Chevrolet. Austin Cindric e Joey Logano completaram o top five, com Ryan Preece, Alex Bowman, William Byron, Chase Elliott e Josh Berry fechando os dez primeiros.
O treino classificatório transcorreu sem incidentes, embora Cody Ware não tenha marcado volta depois de danificar a frente do carro nos treinos livres.
A posição na pista pode não decidir muito: apenas um vencedor das últimas 26 provas da Cup em Martinsville largou da primeira fila, enquanto pilotos que largaram em décimo ou pior venceram seis das últimas oito.
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