Joe Gibbs Racing star Denny Hamlin took NASCAR Cup Series pole at Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday afternoon, beating reigning champion Kyle Larson by the finest of margins.
Hamlin, who leads the Cup Series standings by a point heading into Sunday's race, topped the timesheets with his 30.296-second effort around the 1.5-mile track in Illinois, quicker than Larson by just 0.001 seconds.
It was, in fact, very close from Hamlin right through to fifth position, with himself, Larson, Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski and Ty Gibbs all within 0.027 seconds of one another.
Elsewhere at Chicagoland, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Bubba Wallace qualified in sixth, seventh, and eighth, respectively, in what was a strong showing for Toyota.
The two Chevrolets of Chase Elliott and William Byron rounded out the top 10.
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NASCAR Cup Series Chicagoland qualifying results
With the above said, here is the full finishing order and lap times from Saturday afternoon's Cup Series qualifying session at Chicagoland.
| Position | Driver (Car No.) | Team (OEM) | Time / Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denny Hamlin (11) | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) | 30.296s |
| 2 | Kyle Larson (5) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.001s |
| 3 | Chris Buescher (17) | RFK Racing (Ford) | +0.015s |
| 4 | Brad Keselowski (6) | RFK Racing (Ford) | +0.026s |
| 5 | Ty Gibbs (54) | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) | +0.027s |
| 6 | Christopher Bell (20) | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) | +0.102s |
| 7 | Chase Briscoe (19) | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) | +0.103s |
| 8 | Bubba Wallace (23) | 23XI Racing (Toyota) | +0.124s |
| 9 | Chase Elliott (9) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.128s |
| 10 | William Byron (24) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.176s |
| 11 | AJ Allmendinger (16) | Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet) | +0.185s |
| 12 | Alex Bowman (48) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.206s |
| 13 | Tyler Reddick (45) | 23XI Racing (Toyota) | +0.227s |
| 14 | Ryan Blaney (12) | Team Penske (Ford) | +0.232s |
| 15 | Carson Hocevar (77) | Spire Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.235s |
| 16 | Zane Smith (38) | Front Row Motorsports (Ford) | +0.256s |
| 17 | John Hunter Nemechek (42) | Legacy Motor Club (Toyota) | +0.268s |
| 18 | Riley Herbst (35) | 23XI Racing (Toyota) | +0.280s |
| 19 | Ross Chastain (1) | Trackhouse Racing (Chevrolet) | +0.284s |
| 20 | Ryan Preece (60) | RFK Racing (Ford) | +0.333s |
| 21 | Connor Zilisch (88) | Trackhouse Racing (Chevrolet) | +0.336s |
| 22 | Erik Jones (43) | Legacy Motor Club (Toyota) | +0.387s |
| 23 | Austin Cindric (2) | Team Penske (Ford) | +0.410s |
| 24 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (47) | Hyak Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.474s |
| 25 | Austin Dillon (3) | Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet) | +0.483s |
| 26 | Daniel Suárez (7) | Spire Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.499s |
| 27 | Ty Dillon (10) | Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet) | +0.517s |
| 28 | Corey Heim (67) | 23XI Open (Toyota) | +0.531s |
| 29 | Todd Gilliland (34) | Front Row Motorsports (Ford) | +0.615s |
| 30 | Shane Van Gisbergen (97) | Trackhouse Racing (Chevrolet) | +0.665s |
| 31 | Joey Logano (22) | Team Penske (Ford) | +0.700s |
| 32 | Noah Gragson (4) | Front Row Motorsports (Ford) | +0.725s |
| 33 | Cole Custer (41) | Haas Factory Team (Chevrolet) | +0.778s |
| 34 | Josh Berry (21) | Wood Brothers Racing (Ford) | +0.859s |
| 35 | Austin Hill (33) | Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet) | +0.875s |
| 36 | JJ Yeley (44) | NY Racing Team (Chevrolet) | +1.673s |
| 37 | Michael McDowell (71) | Spire Motorsports (Chevrolet) | No Time |
| 38 | Cody Ware (51) | Rick Ware Racing (Chevrolet) | No Time |
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