Denny Hamlin secured the pole position for Sunday’s NASCAR South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, setting the stage for a pivotal race as he continues to pursue points leader Kyle Larson. Hamlin, currently second in the Cup Series standings, posted a lap time of 28.910 seconds at a speed of 186.787 mph on the 1.5-mile track. This marks Hamlin’s 53rd career pole and his fifth of the 2026 season, as well as his 19th top-10 start this year.

Hamlin’s strong qualifying effort inaugurated a notable performance for Toyota, which swept the top five positions in qualifying—a feat rarely achieved and the first time Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) claimed the top four spots. Ty Gibbs, Hamlin’s JGR teammate, closely followed with a lap only 0.017 seconds slower, marking his 22nd top-10 start of the season and sixth in nine races at Las Vegas. Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe of JGR, along with Tyler Reddick from 23XI Racing, completed the Toyota top-five sweep.

Hamlin, a three-time winner at Las Vegas and the defending champion of the South Point 400, expressed satisfaction with his team’s preparation, particularly the adjustments made to accommodate the high temperatures, which reached the mid-90s under sunny skies. Despite feeling more nervous than usual, Hamlin highlighted the importance of starting up front at a track where he has enjoyed recent success, including victories in the last two races held there. A third consecutive win would tie an all-time record held by NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson.

Kyle Larson, the reigning series champion and current points leader, qualified sixth in his No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. Larson holds a 26-point advantage over Hamlin in the Chase standings with four of the 10 playoff races completed. Third in the championship is Bell, 50 points behind, while Joey Logano occupies fourth, trailing by 67 points. Logano, who has four Las Vegas wins matching Johnson’s record at the track, qualified in 23rd position and will need to advance significantly during Sunday’s race.

Other notable top-10 qualifiers included Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney of Team Penske—though Blaney qualified 20th—and Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, and Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar rounding out the front portion of the grid. Blaney and Logano, currently fourth and fifth in the standings, will both face the challenge of moving up from mid-pack starting positions.

Sunday’s South Point 400 is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on USA, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. With the closing stages of the NASCAR playoffs under way, this race offers a critical opportunity for Hamlin to close the gap on Larson and strengthen his bid for the championship.