The #11 Toyota Camry driver clocked a 26.914s to beat fellow Championship driver William Byron in the #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro to top spot.
Playoffs driver Kyle Larson was third in the #5 Hendrick Camaro while Chase Briscoe was an uncharacteristically low 12th in the #19 Joe Gibbs Camry.
“We’re trying,” said Hamlin.
“We’re doing everything we can. Really proud of this whole Progressive Toyota team. We’ve worked hard at it, we’ve really been working hard. Hopefully, we get the payoff tomorrow.
“We’re obviously going to be in a great starting spot at this point, then we’ve got to just make sure we do all the right things – execute the entire day and largely that’s going to rest on my shoulders. I’ll do the best I can.”
Byron said his qualifying lap wasn’t perfect.
“It’s always chaotic here. You’re coming to green here with a lot of speed,” said Byron.
“I cut the dogleg and felt like it was just a little rougher than I thought it would be through there.
“On my lap, I thought I hit turn one, just couldn’t quite commit to the throttle off both corners.
“Just felt like I was right on the edge of grip and didn’t want to have a slip and lose pace.
“Happy with it. I feel like we’re right there in the mix, right where we need to be, good pit stall, so really happy with today.”
New Zealand’s Shane van Gisbergen improved on his practice performance of 36th to qualify 31st in the #88 Trackhouse Racing Camaro.
Van Gisbergen’s teammates Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez qualified 13th and 14th respectively in the #1 and #99 cars.
Monday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship race gets underway at 7am AEDT with coverage live and exclusively on Fox Sports and Kayo Sports.
Results: NASCAR Cup Series Championship Qualifying, Phoenix Raceway
| Pos | Num | Driver | Team | Car | Lap | Diff | Gap |
| 1 | 11 | Denny Hamlin (P) | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota Camry | 26.914 | ||
| 2 | 24 | William Byron (P) | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet Camaro | 26.956 | 0.042 | 0.042 |
| 3 | 5 | Kyle Larson (P) | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet Camaro | 26.979 | 0.065 | 0.023 |
| 4 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Team Penske | Ford Mustang | 27.017 | 0.103 | 0.038 |
| 5 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford Mustang | 27.029 | 0.115 | 0.012 |
| 6 | 77 | Carson Hocevar | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet Camaro | 27.039 | 0.125 | 0.010 |
| 7 | 21 | Josh Berry | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford Mustang | 27.093 | 0.179 | 0.054 |
| 8 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet Camaro | 27.094 | 0.180 | 0.001 |
| 9 | 17 | Chris Buescher | RFK Racing | Ford Mustang | 27.111 | 0.197 | 0.017 |
| 10 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford Mustang | 27.119 | 0.205 | 0.008 |
| 11 | 8 | Kyle Busch | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet Camaro | 27.129 | 0.215 | 0.010 |
| 12 | 19 | Chase Briscoe (P) | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota Camry | 27.133 | 0.219 | 0.004 |
| 13 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Trackhouse Racing | Chevrolet Camaro | 27.137 | 0.223 | 0.004 |
| 14 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Trackhouse Racing | Chevrolet Camaro | 27.143 | 0.229 | 0.006 |
| 15 | 43 | Erik Jones | Legacy Motor Club | Toyota Camry | 27.154 | 0.240 | 0.011 |
| 16 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Hyak Motorsport | Chevrolet Camaro | 27.172 | 0.258 | 0.018 |
| 17 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet Camaro | 27.176 | 0.262 | 0.004 |
| 18 | 4 | Noah Gragson | Front Row Motorsports | Ford Mustang | 27.184 | 0.270 | 0.008 |
| 19 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | RFK Racing | Ford Mustang | 27.189 | 0.275 | 0.005 |
| 20 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota Camry | 27.196 | 0.282 | 0.007 |
| 21 | 60 | Ryan Preece | RFK Racing | Ford Mustang | 27.197 | 0.283 | 0.001 |
| 22 | 38 | Zane Smith | Front Row Motorsports | Ford Mustang | 27.218 | 0.304 | 0.021 |
| 23 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing | Toyota Camry | 27.219 | 0.305 | 0.001 |
| 24 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | 23XI Racing | Toyota Camry | 27.22 | 0.306 | 0.001 |
| 25 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota Camry | 27.238 | 0.324 | 0.018 |
| 26 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet Camaro | 27.243 | 0.329 | 0.005 |
| 27 | 41 | Cole Custer | Haas Factory Racing | Ford Mustang | 27.244 | 0.330 | 0.001 |
| 28 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | Legacy Motor Club | Toyota Camry | 27.251 | 0.337 | 0.007 |
| 29 | 7 | Justin Haley | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet Camaro | 27.3 | 0.386 | 0.049 |
| 30 | 34 | Todd Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports | Ford Mustang | 27.306 | 0.392 | 0.006 |
| 31 | 88 | Shane Van Gisbergen | Trackhouse Racing | Chevrolet Camaro | 27.316 | 0.402 | 0.010 |
| 32 | 35 | Riley Herbst | 23XI Racing | Toyota Camry | 27.359 | 0.445 | 0.043 |
| 33 | 51 | Cody Ware | Rick Ware Racing | Ford Mustang | 27.445 | 0.531 | 0.086 |
| 34 | 10 | Ty Dillon | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet Camaro | 27.522 | 0.608 | 0.077 |
| 35 | 44 | JJ Yeley | NY Racing Team | Chevrolet Camaro | 27.72 | 0.806 | 0.198 |
| 36 | 66 | Casey Mears | Garage 66 | Ford Mustang | 27.765 | 0.851 | 0.045 |
| 37 | 71 | Michael McDowell | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet Camaro | 27.959 | 1.045 | 0.194 |
| 38 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing |
Chevrolet Camaro
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