The NASCAR Cup Series sees a familiar face atop the qualifying leaderboard this week. Denny Hamlin claimed the pole for the 2025 Cook Out Southern 500.
Hamlin has four Cup Series wins this season, tied with Shane van Gisbergen for the most this year.
Chase Briscoe and Josh Berry earned second and third, respectively, in the qualifying race.
Hamlin is the favorite to win the race with +450 odds on DraftKings Sportsbook. William Byron has the second best odds at +500.
The Cook Out 500 Southern kicks off the Round of 16 for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. It will take place on Sunday, Aug. 31 at 6 p.m. ET at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina.
Here is the full starting lineup for the Cook Out Southern 500.
| Starting position | Driver |
| 1 | Denny Hamlin |
| 2 | Chase Briscoe |
| 3 | Josh Berry |
| 4 | Tyler Reddick |
| 5 | Kyle Larson |
| 6 | Ross Chastain |
| 7 | Christopher Bell |
| 8 | Bubba Wallace |
| 9 | Austin Dillon |
| 10 | Austin Cindric |
| 11 | William Byron |
| 12 | Ryan Blaney |
| 13 | Justin Haley |
| 14 | Joey Logano |
| 15 | Chris Buescher |
| 16 | Ty Gibbs |
| 17 | Daniel Suarez |
| 18 | Cole Custer |
| 19 | Erik Jones |
| 20 | Shane van Gisbergen |
| 21 | Chase Elliott |
| 22 | AJ Allmendinger |
| 23 | Kyle Busch |
| 24 | Zane Smith |
| 25 | Michael McDowell |
| 26 | Carson Hocevar |
| 27 | Ryan Preece |
| 28 | Todd Gilliland |
| 29 | Alex Bowman |
| 30 | John Hunter Nemechek |
| 31 | Ty Dillon |
| 32 | Brad Keselowski |
| 33 | Riley Herbst |
| 34 | Noah Gragson |
| 35 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. |
| 36 | Cody Ware |
| 37 | Derek Kraus |
| 38 | Timmy Hill |