NASCAR Cup Homestead starting lineup: Chase Briscoe snags pole over Hamlin

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A full field of 40 cars entered the NASCAR Cup Series finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Chase Briscoe earned his second pole of the 2026 season with a 32.396s lap, beating Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin by 0.017s. Briscoe was also fastest of all drivers in practice on Friday.

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"Yeah, our car was really good yesterday in practice too," said Briscoe. "So just have a really fast, Bass Pro Shops Toyota. And yeah, it's crazy. Last year, having seven poles, and this year qualifying has been a struggle for us. So yeah, we were just joking. That was our first real one. We got the pole at Talladega, but this one feels definitely a lot different. So yeah, I felt like my car was really, really good yesterday in practice. And having pit stall number one with our pit crew and everything will definitely be really good for tomorrow. Just have to execute."

Tyler Reddick will start third, championship leader Kyle Larson fourth, and Austin Cindric fifth.

Christopher Bell is Larson's closest title challenger, and he will start sixth. Chase Elliott is seventh, William Byron eighth, Ryan Blaney ninth, and Daniel Suarez tenth.

"I didn't look, but if I had to guess, I would say it probably was a little bit coming to green. I was probably trying to save the tires a little bit too much coming to the green," said Hamlin on where he lost the pole. "And then, I don't know, it just seemed like I couldn't quite get through the middle all the way to Turn 4 as good as I needed to on the actual lap. I was just much freer than I thought I was going to be, but great job by the team making some good adjustments from yesterday. I needed to do some work in race trim and felt like they hit the spots where we needed it."

On the title fight, Hamlin added that he "just wants to win" with so many friends and family here this weekend for him.

Qualifying recap

Watch: Brad Keselowski gets loose, hits wall in qualifying run

In his final start before his exit from RFK Racing, Brad Keselowski lost control of the car at the exit of Turn 4, spinning into the inside wall.

"The track's really, really slick," said Keselowski afterward. "Was trying to find a place that had some grip. It did not have grip down there. Wish i could have that one back, but just trying to find something to be as fast as i could be."

Heim set the early benchmark with a 32.763s lap, with McDowell later taking provisional pole by 0.013s with half the field still to go. As the Chase drivers went out on track, the speeds quickly picked up with Cindric going to P1 by almost two tenths over McDowell.

Briscoe was the next driver to go to the top of the charts, over a tenth faster than Cindric. After repairs for damage due to a practice incident, Reddick still had plenty of speed and came within half-a-tenth of Briscoe's fast time.

Hamlin was the only driver who got closer, falling just 0.017s short of a pole to end the season. And for the first time since the team's inception in 1984, Hendrick Motorsports concludes the year without winning a single pole position.

Casey Mears, making a milestone 500th career start, qualified 37th.

NASCAR Cup Homestead Starting Lineup

cla # driver manufacturer time gap mph 119 Chase BriscoeToyota32.396 166.687211 Denny HamlinToyota32.4130.017166.600345 Tyler ReddickToyota32.4370.041166.47745 Kyle LarsonChevrolet32.4630.067166.34352 Austin CindricFord32.5260.130166.021620 Christopher BellToyota32.5560.160165.86879 Chase ElliottChevrolet32.6030.207165.629824 William ByronChevrolet32.6100.214165.593912 Ryan BlaneyFord32.6500.254165.3911033 Austin HillChevrolet32.6670.271165.304117 Daniel SuarezChevrolet32.6670.271165.3041271Michael McDowellChevrolet32.7110.315165.0821348Alex BowmanChevrolet32.7240.328165.0171421Josh BerryFord32.7460.350164.906151Ross ChastainChevrolet32.7580.362164.8451667 Corey HeimToyota32.7630.367164.8201717Chris BuescherFord32.7700.374164.7851823 Darrell Wallace JrToyota32.7710.375164.7801922Joey LoganoFord32.7730.377164.7702054Ty GibbsToyota32.7860.390164.704213Austin DillonChevrolet32.8060.410164.6042247Ricky Stenhouse JrChevrolet32.8160.420164.5542388Connor ZilischChevrolet32.8210.425164.5292443Erik JonesToyota32.8400.444164.4342534Todd GillilandFord32.8630.467164.3192638Zane SmithFord32.8770.481164.2492777Justin HaleyChevrolet32.8770.481164.2492841Cole CusterChevrolet32.8870.491164.1992916AJ AllmendingerChevrolet32.9040.508164.1143035Riley HerbstToyota32.9790.583163.7413110Ty DillonChevrolet33.0860.690163.2113260Ryan PreeceFord33.0870.691163.206334Noah GragsonFord33.0900.694163.1913497Shane van GisbergenChevrolet33.0970.701163.1573551Cody WareChevrolet33.1980.802162.6603642John Hunter NemechekToyota33.1990.803162.6563762 Casey MearsChevrolet33.4221.026161.5703844JJ YeleyChevrolet33.6741.278160.3613966 Chad FinchumFord34.3821.986157.059406 Brad KeselowskiFord35.5893.193151.732

Watch: Briscoe fired up after Miami pole: 'We were just joking, that was our first real one'

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