NASCAR Cup Series star Denny Hamlin achieved a stunning Cup Series feat at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday and admitted afterwards it was 'pretty awesome'.
The Joe Gibbs Racing star took the 49th pole of his Cup career at the Virginia short track, moving himself onto the top 10 pole list all-time in the division, tying Bobby Isaac.
| Rank | Driver | Career Cup Series Poles |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richard Petty | 123 |
| 2 | David Pearson | 113 |
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | 81 |
| 4 | Cale Yarborough | 69 |
| T-5 | Darrell Waltrip | 59 |
| T-5 | Bobby Allison | 59 |
| 7 | Mark Martin | 56 |
| 8 | Bill Elliott | 55 |
| 9 | Ryan Newman | 51 |
| T-10 | Denny Hamlin | 49 |
| T-10 | Bobby Isaac | 49 |
This comes after Hamlin recently claimed 10th spot outright on the Cup Series all-time win list, bumping Kevin Harvick down to 11th after his victory at Las Vegas earlier this month.
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Hamlin reacts to 'awesome' Cup achievement
Naturally, Hamlin was asked for his thoughts on this when speaking to the media after the session, and it sounded like it meant a lot.
“It's pretty awesome," Hamlin told the media after qualifying. "Really, with age, the hardest part is actually still having the fast time. You know what I mean?
"It's one thing to be able to kind of manage races and understand – use your experience to your advantage, but usually the first thing that goes is your all-out speed, and we're still knocking off poles, which is really good.
"I was around when [Ryan] Newman (9th on the list with 51 poles) was just unstoppable in qualifying, so damn, I didn't know he had that many. That was a lot.”
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Hamlin won't sacrifice Sundays for Saturdays
Hamlin has made it clear that he is targeting 67 Cup Series victories before the end of his career, which still looks as though it could come at the end of 2027.
So, does he have a similar number in mind for how many pole positions he can take?
“Yeah, I don't know whether it will change much other than just, make me feel better," he explained.
"I can't compromise my preparation for a race to really focus on, all right, well, I want to get five more poles, right? If I never get another one, it's possible.
"I never get another one, then that's fine, but I never really go into any weekend thinking about qualifying on the pole. It's kind of a sidebar for how did my Saturday go."
Hamlin will look to convert his pole into his second victory of the season later this afternoon, with the Cook Out 400 set to get underway at 3:30 p.m. ET (FS1).
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