Now, that is how you command a Saturday. Denny Hamlin put on a clinic at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, topping the Busch Light Pole Qualifying session with a blistering lap of 186.787 mph in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. That run gave the 45-year-old Virginian his fifth pole position of the season and his 53rd career pole, but more importantly, it spearheaded an absolute steamroller of a performance for the manufacturer.
Behind Hamlin, Toyota machinery locked out the entire top five of the starting grid for Sunday's South Point 400. JGR teammate Ty Gibbs slotted into second in the No. 54 Toyota by a razor-thin 0.017-second margin, followed by JGR stablemates Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe, with 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick completing the sweep. It marks only the second time in history that Toyota has swept the top five qualifying positions, with the previous instance coming at Indianapolis last season. Furthermore, it stands as the Joe Gibbs Racing team's first ever top-four sweep.
This sport is week by week, and we’re all guilty of overreacting on Mondays about what we just saw over the weekend,
The afternoon heat brought its own layer of tension under the sunny Nevada skies, with track temperatures hitting the mid-90s after weeks of poor weather and cancelled sessions. “It is important and the races we’ve really succeeded well here, we’ve started up front,” Hamlin said. “Today was executed by the team perfectly with how we approached the week and the adjustments we made to the car for temperatures seemed to be really good changes. I couldn’t have soaked up today to go a whole lot better than it did.”
Championship contenders made their presence felt immediately, locking down the top 14 spots on the speed chart. Reigning series champion and current points leader Kyle Larson qualified sixth fastest in the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. Team Penske Ford driver Austin Cindric, Hendrick's William Byron, 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace, and Spire Motorsports' Carson Hocevar filled out the rest of the top 10. Meanwhile, Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano found themselves stranded down in 20th and 23rd respectively, leaving them plenty of work to do on race day.
Earlier in the day, practice brought drama and wall-scraping chaos. William Byron set the pace with a lap of 182.235 mph, edging out Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson by 0.065 seconds, while Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, and Spire Motorsports' Daniel Suárez rounded out the top five. But the session had its casualties. Josh Berry suffered heavy left-side damage after his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford spun out at the exit of Turn 2 and slammed the outside retaining wall with roughly 18 minutes remaining. Berry was evaluated and released from the infield care center, attributing the crash to a tire problem. Noah Gragson also found trouble, backing his No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford into the Turn 2 wall with four minutes left before driving back to the garage for a release from the care center. Tyler Reddick, Chris Buescher, and Ty Gibbs additionally battled tyre gremlins during the running.
Hamlin enters Sunday hunting a third consecutive Las Vegas victory, a feat that would tie him with NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson for an all-time record. He sits 26 points behind Larson after the opening four rounds of the 10-race Chase schedule. Yet, as the veteran racer pointed out, nothing is guaranteed in this garage. “This sport is week by week, and we’re all guilty of overreacting on Mondays about what we just saw over the weekend,” Hamlin said. “The 5 car could easily just drive right up through there and pass us and win the race again. You never know.”
