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Denny Hamlin is the only driver in the Cup Series field who can relax about racing at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday. Thanks to his win last week at Las Vegas, Hamlin is guaranteed to move on to the Round of 8, allowing him to focus on trying to defend his Talladega title from a season ago -- which he will do from the front of the field.

On Wednesday, Denny Hamlin was named the polesitter for the YellaWood 500 at Talladega by virtue of NASCAR's qualifying metric, which sets the starting lineup based on a driver's finish and fastest lap from the previous race as well as their points position. Hamlin will be looking not only for his second win in a row in the Round of 12, but also his second in a row in Talladega's Fall race. He won last year's YellaWood 500 in dramatic fashion, one of two overall victories he has at the 2.66-mile superspeedway.

With a field of the maximum 40 cars, there are some notable driver shifts beyond the playoff contenders in the field. Justin Haley will drive Kaulig Racing's No. 16 instead of his usual No. 77 for Spire Motorsports, which will instead be driven by Justin Allgaier. Landon Cassill is entered as the driver of Gaunt Brothers Racing's No. 96, and David Starr is again entered as the driver of MBM Motorsports' No. 66.

YellaWood 500 Starting Lineup

1. #11 - Denny Hamlin
2. #18 - Kyle Busch
3. #9 - Chase Elliott
4. #12 - Ryan Blaney
5. #5 - Kyle Larson
6. #19 - Martin Truex Jr.
7. #2 - Brad Keselowski
8. #22 - Joey Logano
9. #4 - Kevin Harvick
10. #24 - William Byron
11. #48 - Alex Bowman
12. #20 - Christopher Bell
13. #8 - Tyler Reddick
14. #1 - Kurt Busch
15. #21 - Matt DiBenedetto
16. #3 - Austin Dillon
17. #14 - Chase Briscoe (R)
18. #99 - Daniel Suarez
19. #23 - Bubba Wallace
20. #10 - Aric Almirola
21. #47 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
22. #34 - Michael McDowell
23. #42 - Ross Chastain
24. #17 - Chris Buescher
25. #6 - Ryan Newman
26. #43 - Erik Jones
27. #37 - Ryan Preece
28. #41 - Cole Custer
29. #7 - Corey LaJoie
30. #38 - Anthony Alfredo (R)
31. #51 - Cody Ware
32. #78 - B.J. McLeod
33. #77 - Justin Allgaier
34. #52 - Josh Bilicki
35. #00 - Quin Houff
36. #53 - Joey Gase
37. #15 - Garrett Smithley
38. #16 - Justin Haley
39. #66 - David Starr
40. #96 - Landon Cassill