HAMLIN HOLDS ON FOR COORS LIGHT POLE AT RICHMOND

Virginia native Denny Hamlin surged to the Coors Light Pole Award in Friday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying, snagging the top starting spot for Saturday night's regular-season finale at Richmond International Raceway.

Hamlin powered the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota to a best lap of 122.344 mph in the last of three qualifying rounds on the .75-mile track. It's his first pole position of the season, third at Richmond and 24th of his Sprint Cup career.

Saturday night's Federated Auto Parts 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM) is the final race before the 16-driver Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup post-season field is decided. Hamlin will start alongside Kyle Larson, who notched the second-fastest lap at 122.288 mph in the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet.

Defending race winner Matt Kenseth (No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota), Jamie McMurray (No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet) and Kurt Busch (No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet) completed the top five.

Ryan Newman, the highest-ranked driver outside the provisional Chase grid, will start in the 15th position in the Richard Childress Racing No. 31 Chevrolet. McMurray will aim to keep his grasp on the final provisional playoff berth as he makes his 500th Sprint Cup start.

Pocono winner Chris Buescher, hopes to maintain his position among the top 30 in points to clinch a Chase berth and will start 31st in the Front Row Motorsports No. 34 Ford. David Ragan, his closest pursuer in the Sprint Cup standings, will start 21st.

JGR's Carl Edwards, a winner in the series' most recent Richmond stop last April, just missed the cut-off line for the final round with a qualifying speed of 122.272 mph. His time was just .002 seconds slower than Joey Logano's (No. 22 Team Penske Ford) second-round lap.

Martin Truex Jr., last weekend's Bojangles' Southern 500 winner at Darlington Raceway, was sixth-fastest in the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota. Jeff Gordon qualified 11th as he preps for his sixth start of the season as a fill-in for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet.

Rookie Chase Elliott was a surprising omission after the first elimination, his Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet residing outside the fastest 24 qualifiers in Round 1. He'll start 34th in Saturday night's 400-lapper.

Cole Whitt failed to qualify for the 40-car field.

LOGANO LEAPS TO COORS LIGHT POLE AWARD AT MICHIGAN

Joey Logano drove to the Coors Light Pole Award in Friday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying at Michigan International Speedway.

Logano powered the Team Penske No. 22 Ford to a best lap of 201.698 mph around the 2-mile track, securing the first starting position for Sunday's Pure Michigan 400 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM).

Logano's third pole of the season is the 17th of his Sprint Cup career. He also won from the pole position in the series' most recent trip to Michigan in June.

Jimmie Johnson will start second after posting a lap of 201.523 mph in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet. Denny Hamlin (201.416 mph) was third-fastest in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota.

Kevin Harvick, last week's winner at Bristol Motor Speedway, grabbed the fourth starting spot at 201.382 mph in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevy. Rookie Chase Elliott (201.303 mph) completed the top five in the Hendrick No. 24 Chevrolet.

Alex Bowman, making his second substitute start for the sidelined Dale Earnhardt Jr., landed the sixth starting spot in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet.

Defending race winner Matt Kenseth just missed the cutline for the final 12-driver round, running Round 2's 13th-fastest lap (200.390 mph) in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota. Defending Sprint Cup champ Kyle Busch qualified 16th in JGR's No. 18 Toyota.

The three-round session was a prelude to Sunday's 400-miler, which is expected to be the last live-race deployment this season of a reduced downforce aerodynamic package. The rules setup, which also decreases the stabilizing effect of sideforce, is likely the fore-runner to the base rules that will be used in NASCAR's premier series next season.

Two practice sessions are scheduled Saturday ahead of the 24th of 36 points-paying Sprint Cup races this year.

BUSCH PICKS UP COORS LIGHT POLE AWARD IN SEARCH OF BRICKYARD DEFENSE

SPEEDWAY, Ind. – A sweep at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is nothing new to Kyle Busch.

But this year, he started early.

With a lap at 184.634 mph (48.745 seconds) in the final round of Saturday's knockout qualifying, Busch claimed the pole position for Sunday’s Crown Royal 400 (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, IMS, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Earlier in the day, the driver who swept both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series races at Indy last year earned the pole award ahead of the heat races prior to Saturday afternoon’s Lilly Diabetes 250 XFINITY race.

But the Sprint Cup pole that completed the Saturday sweep was special, because it was the first for Busch at the vaunted Brickyard.

"I haven't been great at qualifying here, but the guys gave me a great piece this time around, and I'm real pumped about that," said Busch, who claimed his second Coors Light Pole Award of the season and the 19th of his career. "We're starting first in both of these (races), and hopefully we can end that way.

"It means a lot (to win the pole). It's definitely pretty special to be running the way that we're running and to have the success that we've had here the last couple of years at Indy, and I’d love nothing more than to try to win here again."

Busch’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was .023 seconds faster than the No. 19 of teammate Carl Edwards (184.547 mph).

"I was happy with my lap," Edwards said. "I was surprised Kyle got me. That was a good lap for him – I mean, that was a good lap that he ran because I felt like my lap was pretty good – but, yeah, it's frustrating right now to be second because it's so close, and the pole position is obviously huge here.

"But by tomorrow, the race gets started and I think I'll be pretty happy with that starting spot, so just good job by all my guys."

Making his last appearance at Indy as a Sprint Cup Series driver, Tony Stewart earned the third starting spot with a lap at 184.328 mph and knew exactly where he had lost critical speed.

"I just wish I could do lap three (final round) one more time and not clip the apron in (Turn) 4," Stewart said. "I think we could have been on the pole."

RELATED: Stewart discusses his qualifying effort

Denny Hamlin qualified fourth, giving JGR three of the top four spots. Brad Keselowski in fifth has the top Ford. Ryan Newman , Kevin Harvick , Martin Truex Jr. , Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson will start from positions six through 10, respectively.

The time trials were a disappointment for the Hendrick Motorsports drivers, who failed to place a car in the top 12.

Jimmie Johnson ran the fastest lap of the day in the first of three rounds, touring the 2.5-mile speedway in 48.435 seconds (185.816 mph). But the six-time series champion failed to advance beyond the second round, losing the 12th and final position to Kurt Busch by .008 seconds.

Johnson will start 13th, Chase Elliott 15th and Jeff Gordon , subbing for Dale Earnhardt Jr. , who is out with concussion-like symptoms, claimed the 21st spot on the grid.

"I felt really comfortable right there," said Gordon, who was 15th fastest in the first round. "I feel like today I’m much calmer than I was yesterday (in practice). Usually, my heart is beating more for qualifying than it is for practice, but that wasn't the case.

"So, today I feel more relaxed and comfortable in the car. I hope to feel the same way tomorrow. Tomorrow's challenge is going to be being around traffic, and also trying to get the balance of the car right and do that when you're by yourself as well as when you're around other cars."

Josh Wise failed to make the 40-car field.

JIMMIE JOHNSON SCORES POLE AT NEW HAMPSHIRE

LOUDON, N.H. -- After one of the roughest stretches in his career, Jimmie Johnson got a welcome boost on Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Saving his fastest lap for the third and final round of knockout qualifying, Johnson won the Coors Light Pole Award for Sunday's New Hampshire 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race (1:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN), covering the 1.058-mile distance in 28.430 seconds (133.971 mph).

The pole was the 50th won in a Chevrolet SS in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Johnson edged Kyle Busch (133.830 mph) for the top starting spot by .030 seconds, earning his first pole at the Magic Mile, his first of the 2016 season and the 35th of his career.

Busch, however, owned the fastest lap of the day, running 134.080 mph (28.407 seconds) to pace the second round, but Johnson was quickest when it counted most.

With only one top 10 in his last nine races, Johnson needed a catalyst, but his car was so off-kilter during a mock qualifying run during opening practice that he thought something had broken on the No. 48 Chevrolet.

While his team reset the car to the specifications in place when it unloaded, Johnson went on a 32-mile bike ride with fellow driver Matt Kenseth to clear his head.

When he returned for time trials, the car was better.

"We had a really weird set of tires or something odd go on on our mock run at the end of practice," Johnson said. "It felt like something was broken on the car. So to come back and have good speed in the car and advance, I knew after round two we would have a shot at the pole, because we were able to keep our lap count down and advance to the next round on our first lap in each session.

"And then put together a smooth lap. I felt like it could have been faster, but certainly a good smooth one, and it was enough."

And having speed in the car was a shot of adrenaline to a team that has been struggling.

"We've had a lot of tough races," Johnson acknowledged. "Qualifying has been so-so. I'm not the best at qualifying. I think the majority of that emotion was the fact that we actually got a pole.

"We don't have many. It's not our strong suit. Just a good day all-in-all, and certainly something this Lowe's team needed after the tough couple of months… Today's a big day for us."

Martin Truex Jr. will start third, after bumping his way into the final 12 .001 seconds over fellow Toyota driver Carl Edwards in the closing seconds of the 10-minute second round. Truex covered the distance in 28.675 seconds (132.827 mph) to knock Edwards out of the final round.

Truex then secured the third position on the grid with a lap at 133.371 mph.

"It's been a hectic day," Truex said. "It seems like we've been thrashing all day long. Everything is last-minute, last-second and just throwing stuff at it, but when it counts we keep hitting it.

"We were first in practice and third here. We barely made it through the second round and then went on to finish third. All in all, it was a good day. Just a lot of quick decisions by everyone."

Kurt Busch will start fourth, followed by Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano , who led the first round of time trials at 133.166 mph.

Chase Elliott , Kevin Harvick , Brad Keselowski and AJ Allmendinger claimed the seventh through 10th starting spots, respectively.

Substituting for Dale Earnhardt Jr. , who is sidelined with concussion-like symptoms, Alex Bowman earned the 20th starting position in the No. 88 Chevrolet. Though Earnhardt wasn't at New Hampshire, he nevertheless contributed to Johnson's pole-winning run.

"He did come here and test for us," said Johnson, who is driving a new chassis this week. "And he gave us the foundation for the way our cars unloaded today. So big thanks to the 88 team, Dale and (crew chief) Greg (Ives) and those guys for having a great test session and giving us an opportunity for the pole today."