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With qualifying out of the way for the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International, Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin has clinched pole position once again. This will be the #11 Toyota Camry TRD driver's third appearance on the pole at a road-course track this season.
Managing to edge Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron in the final round of the session with a time of 70.392 seconds, Hamlin will be seen heading the field come Sunday.
Taking home the Busch Light Pole Award home as well, the Tampa, Florida native will be in the best spot to start Sunday's Go Bowling at The Glen race. This will mark the start of the second last regular season race.
Elaborating on how his final laps during the session went, Denny Hamlin told espn.com:
"There were a few spots where I feel like I still could have got a little bit more, but you can't nitpick when you're that good."
With William Byron keeping Hamlin company on the front row, P3 and P4 positions were claimed by last week's winner Michael McDowell and Ty Gibbs, respectively.
Denny Hamlin on his relationship with coach Gibbs and his future at Joe Gibbs Racing
Speculation has surrounded Denny Hamlin's continuation with Joe Gibbs Racing going forward in his Cup Series career. This is due to delays in the team and the driver finalizing their future contracts.
With the departure of Kyle Busch last season, coach Gibbs and Denny Hamlin seem to have talked about the obvious as the NASCAR silly season starts to pick up around the 2023 playoffs.
Elaborating on his further plans in the sport with the team, the #11 Toyota Camry TRD driver said in a press conference recently:
"I'm happy at Joe Gibbs Racing and (Coach) Joe is happy with me. I think certainly the Kyle (Busch) situation last year, it's different in that sense. It's easy to draw parallels because you hear a lot. I'm saying some things Kyle said. Joe's saying the very similar things but there's just more factors in play." -via Bob Pockrass
Watch Denny Hamlin try and convert his pole position on Saturday into a victory on Sunday as NASCAR Cup Series goes live for the second last time during the 2023 regular season.
