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Kyle Busch
thought he made the jump in the competition with a pole race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Then he was hit by his teammate
Denny Hamlin
and the politics started.
Hamlin gets the first selection of stands for winning pole, but Busch wants that spot. Busch is one of four drivers racing Sunday for the championship and Hamlin is not one of them.
"This is a discussion," said Hamlin about the strategy of the
Joe Gibbs Racing
the camp will use. "I mean, my pit crew is a second slower than Kyle's, everything is won, nothing is given, we'll have the discussion."
Reigning champion of the series
Martin Truex Jr.
was in a similar position last year and asked Hamlin, a Toyota co-driver, to give him the first stand, but Hamlin declined. Busch did not think his luck would be better.
"It's probably too far, but it would be good," Busch said.
Hamlin made a lap of 173.863 km / h in the final seconds of Friday's qualifying, putting Busch first. Busch thought his turn at 173.622 was good enough for pole, but that only put him in front of the other three title contenders.
Truex has qualified third to place three Toyota in the front row. It's his last race with
Furniture race
because a loss of sponsorship forces the team to close after the final.
Joey Logano
qualified fifth for
Penske Team
.
Kevin Harvick
was 12th, the lowest contenders for the title, but not too concerned about where he starts.
"I mean, we qualified 12th, not the last," said Harvick. "I think it's not so bad if we can drive our car properly for Sunday."
Logano also warned against any prediction based on qualifying results.
"I do not think a whole group is transferred, I think everyone was listening for one lap (qualifying)," Logano said.
Hamlin, meanwhile, won the pole for the second year in a row and in a significant race for his team. He announced earlier Friday that the team leader, Mike Wheeler, was separating at the end of the season and that Hamlin seemed moved by the split.
He and Wheeler won their very first race together, the Daytona 500 in 2016, and Hamlin wants to mark the end of their career with a win in their final. A win would also extend Hamlin's winning streak, which has had at least one run each season since its debut in 2006.
Hamlin had to win at Homestead in 2013 to stay active.
"We really want to finish on a good note and try to win In 2013 we were in the same situation where we did not win a race before the final race and we did it. hope the time has come to do it, "said Hamlin. "We will continue to dig in. Hat to this team."
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