Hometown favorite Denny Hamlin has qualified on the pole for tomorrow night's Dan Lowry 400 Sprint Cup race at Richmond International Raceway.

Hamlin, who grew up in Chesterfield County and got his start in racing on short tracks in the area, took the pole in his Toyota racer with a speed of 126.198 mph on the D-shaped ¾-mile track.

Mark Martin's Chevrolet will start on the outside of the front row with a qualifying speed of 126.003 mph. He was less than 3 hundredths of a second slower than Hamlin.

Martin Truex Jr. qualified third in a Chevy, rookie Patrick Carpentier fourth in a Dodge, Reed Sorensen fifth in a Dodge.

Starting sixth through tenth will be Juan Pablo Montoya in a Dodge, Kyle Busch in a Toyota, Elliott Sadler in a Dodge, Kasey Kahne in a Dodge and Ryan Newman in a Dodge.

The pole was Hamlin's first this season, the sixth in his Sprint Cup career.

Carpentier's time-trial performance was a surprise. He is outside the top 35 in owner points and had to take one of the eight spots available to drivers based on qualifying speed.

South Boston's Jeff Burton, the Sprint Cup points leader, qualified 33rd.

Tomorrow's Sprint Cup race is set to start at 7:30. As of early this evening, a few hundred tickets remained, according to a track spokeswoman.

The track hosts a Nationwide series event tonight.

-- Brian Hunsicker