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Bob PockrassNASCAR
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Denny Hamlin is looking to extend his winning streak at least once a season, and has eclipsed NASCAR Cup Series contenders in qualifying on Friday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Hamlin, who has won a race in each of his 12 seasons but did not win in 2018 and announced that he would be running his last race with team leader Mike Wheeler , won pole 0.043 seconds against Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch.
Denny Hamlin won pole. The four championship drivers are all in the top 12. Take a look at the race for the Sunday Cup final.
The Team Penske rider is still in the championship race, but he has suffered too much to make the victory an end in itself.
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"Overall, I'm happy with the efforts being made today and the guys have done a good job," Busch said.
Busch had the best run of four contenders in the championship. Martin Truex Jr. will start third, Joey Logano fourth and Kevin Harvick, 12th.
The pole sitter gets the first choice of stand selection.
"It's probably too far [to ask]but that would be good, Busch said. I think if you are not in booth # 1, [stalls] 2 to 40 are the same. "
Hamlin said it's likely to take the best booth for himself when he's selected Saturday morning. He said last year Truex, his Toyota compatriot, asked for the favor after Hamlin won the pole and Hamlin's team refused.
"To be honest with you, my team of technicians is a second slower than Kyle's," said Hamlin. "Everything is won, nothing is given, with us stand n ° 1, none of the others [championship] the competitors will have it. So I do not know. It's a discussion [to be had].
"With the pressure to always win, you have to do everything you can to win."
Hamlin entered homestead without a win in the 2013 season and won this race. That's a motivator, as is the impending split with his good friend Wheeler, who guided him to victory at Daytona 500 in 2016 during their first race together.
Hamlin did not mean who would be his team leader next year. Leavine Family Racing, which will join Toyota after this season and will be affiliated with JGR, has refused to answer questions in recent weeks about whether Wheeler would become Matt DiBenedetto's team leader in 2019, as was the case. ad.
"Winning my first game with him was great, and it would be great to finish in style," Hamlin said. "Once we have been eliminated from the playoffs [after the first round]was obviously the number one priority in this race team was to win. "
Hamlin said his goal for the race was to win the victory with his teammate Busch.
The top finalist Sunday among the four finalists of the championship will win the title.
None of the four seemed particularly happy or worried about his starting points.
"It was a good day," said Truex. "[It was a] great effort on the part of the guys. "
Harvick started fifth when he won the title in 2014, but went from 13th to finishing second in 2015.
"It's not a big deal if we can drive our car properly for Sunday," Harvick said. "We did not qualify well here last year and we did not really have a good race all day."
Qualification configurations are different from race configurations, where cars are configured to run much longer races than those performed during qualifying.
"I do not think a whole group is transferred," said Logano. "I think everyone has been logged in for a ride today."
In addition to Hamlin, the other top-five driver did not compete. Brad Keselowski, who will start fourth.
The teams will have two practice sessions on Saturday to prepare for the 267-lap and 400-mile race.
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