RICHMOND, Va. -- Denny Hamlin shined before a home crowd, posting the fastest lap at Richmond International Raceway to claim the pole for the Dan Lowry 400.
Living in nearby Chesterfield, about a 15-minute drive from the 0.75-mile oval track, Hamlin had a best lap of 21.395 seconds for his six career pole in the top-tier of competition on the NASCAR circuit.
"I knew I was under pressure because my heart was beating out of my chest during my lap," Hamlin said. "When your foot is shaking on the gas pedal, the nerves are starting to get to you."
Hamlin's Toyota will have the Chevrolet of Mark Martin on the outside for Saturday night's Sprint Cup Series race, with the Chevrolet of Martin Truex Jr. and rookie Patrick Carpentier's Dodge in the second row. The Dodges of Reed Sorenson and Juan Pablo Montoya are next.
But Hamlin, who had to make a quick uniform change to race in Friday night's second-tier Nationwide Series event at the track, was the only one wearing a grin stretching from ear to ear.
"A pole at Richmond is equal to a race win anywhere else I go," he said.
Martin, who is running a partial schedule this season on the top-tier Sprint Cup circuit, was elated with his qualifying run, which will give him a fine view of open track for his 45th career start at Richmond. That it came even after he was third on the track just showed that he's got a good car for the race.
"If you've got a bad draw and you've got a bad car, you've really got your hands full," he said, especially with a cooling track making it more receptive for later qualifiers.
Copyright 2012 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press. Any commercial use or
distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and The
Associated Press is strictly prohibited.
