Denny Hamlin joins elite NASCAR company after hitting major milestone at Michigan

Denny Hamlin joined an elite list of NASCAR stars after hitting a major milestone at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday.

Although he won't actually start from the front of the field due to damage to his car that needs fixing ahead of the race, Hamlin topped qualifying at the 2-mile asphalt oval ahead of Sunday's Firekeepers Casino 400 to take the 50th Cup Series pole of his career.

In doing so, Hamlin became just the seventh driver in NASCAR history to have won at least 50 poles and 50 races or more in the sport's elite division.

READ MORE: NASCAR Race Today: Cup Series at Michigan start times, TV channel and FREE live stream

Denny Hamlin reacts to 50th Cup Series pole

Speaking to the media after the qualifying session, Hamlin was humble about his latest achievement, and hailed the other names on the list as legends of the sport, even if he doesn't put himself in that bracket.

“That's awesome," he said when asked how it felt to join the 50-win, 50-pole club.

"I mean, I don't know, those are legends and then there's me.”

Elaborating further on what it means to hit 50 career poles in the Cup Series, the Joe Gibbs Racing star continued: “Yeah, it feels good.

"It was certainly a little unexpected, considering the adversity we had during practice and knowing that my car wasn't going to be quite optimized to where we expected it to be.

"Over the last few weeks with the rainouts, I thought that it was kind of taking away opportunities for us to get to the 50. I knew that the next one was that milestone.

"Glad we were able to get it done and certainly, get that number one pit stall and just kind of see where things go."

Hamlin will now go for back-to-back Cup Series victories on Sunday, with the Firekeepers Casino 400 set to start at 3 p.m. ET (Prime Video).

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