NASCAR Dover 2015 qualifying results: Denny Hamlin captures pole, leads strong Joe Gibbs Racing showing

Following consecutive wins, the resurgence of Joe Gibbs Racing carried over to qualifying Friday at Dover International Speedway, as Denny Hamlin captured the No. 1 starting spot for Sunday’s FedEx 400.

Hamlin’s speed of 160.121 miles per hour in the final seconds of time trials clipped second-place qualifier Martin Truex Jr. (159.723). The pole was Hamlin’s first of the season, 21st of his career and third overall at Dover. He’s winless in 18 starts on the one-mile concrete oval.

“We still haven’t won here, but we’ve been more competitive for sure,” Hamlin said. “Whatever it is about the qualifying here, it just seems to suit myself and my driving style. We’ve qualified well here in the past, but haven’t always raced that well. I’m pretty confident come Sunday, we’ll be contenders.”

Kyle Larson qualified third, followed Hamlin’s JGR teammate Matt Kenseth in fourth and Team Penske’s Joey Logano fifth. With Carl Edwards eighth and Kyle Busch 10th, all four JGR cars will line up Sunday in the top 10 for the first time this season.

The speed shown by JGR in qualifying comes after Hamlin won the non-points All-Star Race May 16 and Edwards the Coca-Cola 600 the next week. JGR had struggled through the early portion of the season dealing with a lack of horsepower in its Toyota engines. But the issues appear rectified with all four teams more competitive in recent weeks.

“I think overall we’re just clicking away and getting a little bit better as the season goes and this is a good sign,” Hamlin said.

Said Kenseth: “All of our cars seem to have some speed again. Everybody at JGR has been working really hard on them. We’re just going to go to work tomorrow and get ready for Sunday.”

The strong effort by Truex in qualifying was due in large part to the extra effort put forth by Furniture Row Racing since last Sunday’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Truex ran the same chassis to near wins May 9 at Kansas Speedway and at Charlotte, where he led a race-high 131 laps. Liking the car so much, he asked crew chief Cole Pearn to use the same chassis at Dover, the site of Truex’s first career victory in 2006.

But because Furniture Row is based in Denver the team’s hauler didn’t arrive back from Charlotte until 2 a.m. Tuesday morning. Immediately, work begin to refurbish the car with the hauler setting off for Dover 10:30 that same night. Though ranked second in points, Truex is winless on the season and hasn’t won a race in nearly two years.

“It’s just awesome to see the effort put in,” Truex said. “I think everybody is just really excited about how we have been running. I feel like everybody on the team can just taste that victory and is willing to really put it on the line and work extra hard and do whatever it takes to get over that hump. I’m just really thankful for all the hard work back in Denver.”

Nine-time Dover winner Jimmie Johnson posted the 14th-fastest time. Other notables qualified: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (16th), Brad Keselowski (19th), Jeff Gordon (22nd) and Tony Stewart (26th), whose last Sprint Cup victory came in this race two years ago.

Jeff Green and Travis Kvapil failed to qualify.