Denny Hamlin Delivers Pole for Joe Gibbs Racing at Talladega

Denny Hamlin scored the 37th pole position of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Saturday's qualifying session for Sunday's GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Hamlin, 42, was the lone driver to turn a lap quicker than 53 seconds, as he turned a lap around the 2.66-mile superspeedway in 52.979 seconds, a lap that equates to 180.751 mph.

RELATED: NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500 Starting Lineup

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver is searching for his first win of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, and while a pole at a superspeedway event is nowhere near a guarantee of a successful day in the race, Hamlin is encouraged by the speed in his No. 11 Toyota and feels if he and his teammates can work well together, the race could be theirs to lose.

"Well, you've got track position now. Now, you've just got to maintain it. Hopefully, all of the Toyotas work well together and we're going to hopefully keep it up front all day. That's the key. Not make any mistakes and we'll certainly find ourselves with a shot at it in the end," Hamlin stated before taking a swig from his bottle of Coca-Cola.

Joining Hamlin on the front row for Sunday's race will be Stewart-Haas Racing's driver of the No. 10 Ford Mustang, Aric Almirola. Almirola was just 0.032 sec. shy of snagging his first Busch Light pole position since Bristol last Summer.

Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Ty Gibbs, who has really come to life in his recent run of races, will start from the inside of Row 2 in third and Chase Briscoe will lineup alongside Gibbs in fourth.

Ryan Blaney, who has two-career NASCAR Cup Series victories at Talladega Superspeedway, turned the fifth-fastest lap of the final round of qualifying and will start from the inside of Row 3 inside the No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang.

Christopher Bell, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, and Chris Buescher will round out the top 10 starters for Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

The GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway is set to go green on Sunday, April 23rd and television coverage will be provided by FOX beginning at 3:00 PM ET. MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will carry the radio broadcast of the event.

Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett, LAT Images, Courtesy of Toyota Racing