After back-to-back road course events at San Diego and Sonoma, the NASCAR Cup Series is back on a conventional oval, and the series’ new points leader, Denny Hamlin, is back at the top of the speed charts.

Piloting the No. 11 Progressive Insurance Toyota Camry XSE, Hamlin went to the top of the speed charts midway through Saturday’s single-vehicle qualifying session in Joliet, Illinois, posting a time of 30.296 seconds (178.241mph).

It’s the 52nd NASCAR Cup Series pole position for Hamlin and his fourth of 2026.

The weekend for the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team got off to a bit of a rocky start, after the National Debt Relief-wrapped hauler was involved in a minor incident en route to Chicagoland. Clearly, no damage was dealt to the vehicle.

Hamlin bested defending NASCAR Cup Series champion, Kyle Larson by 0.001 seconds in qualifying. Larson, nursing a winless streak of more than 40 races, will start second in Sunday’s 400-mile event.

RFK Racing teammates Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski qualified on the second row and will start third and fourth. The third RFK driver, Ryan Preece, will start 20th.

Ty Gibbs rounded out the top five in Saturday’s time trials. Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott, and William Byron rounded out the top 10.

Other notables starting outside the top-10 include Alex Bowman (12th), Tyler Reddick (13th), Ryan Blaney (14th), Ross Chastain (19th), Austin Cindric (23rd), Corey Heim (28th), Shane Van Gisbergen (30th), and Joey Logano (31st).

Michael McDowell was unable to post a qualifying effort on Saturday after failing pre-qualifying inspection three times on Saturday. McDowell’s car chief has been ejected from the track, and the No. 71 will have to serve a pass-through at the beginning of Sunday’s event.

The eero 400 at Chicagoland Speedway will take place Sunday, July 5 at 6:00 PM ET on TNT and TruTV.