(Photo credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images)

DARLINGTON, S.C.--If any active driver has come close to mastering the Track Too Tough to Tame, it's Denny Hamlin, who asserted his superiority once again in Saturday's qualifying session for the Cook Out Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET Sunday on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Gaining enormous time through Turns 3 and 4 on his single qualifying lap at Darlington Raceway, Hamlin knocked Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe off the provisional pole for the first NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race.

A five-time winner at Darlington--most among active drivers--Hamlin covered the 1.366-mile distance in 28.694 seconds (171.381 mph), beating Briscoe (171.255 mph) by 0.021 seconds. Briscoe had won the pole position for the previous three Crown Jewel races--DAYTONA 500, Coca-Cola 600 and Brickyard 400.

The Busch Light Pole Award was Hamlin's second at Darlington, his second of the season and the 45th of his career. He is the first driver to reach 40 poles in a Toyota, with his first five coming when JGR ran Chevrolets.

'It turned,' Hamlin said of the performance of his No. 11 Camry. 'We struggled with balance all through race practice, but we made some good adjustments to run one lap.'

Hamlin acknowledged his car still needs work to enhance its performance in race trim.

After a stellar first two corners on his qualifying lap, Briscoe wasn't as aggressive as he needed to be at the narrow end of the egg-shaped track.

'That one stings,' Briscoe said. 'My 1 and 2 was really good, and I didn't want to go into (Turn) 3 and hit the wall or something, so I under-drove it.'

Playoff drivers occupy the first 12 spots on the grid for Sunday's race. Josh Berry qualified third at 170.578 mph in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. Tyler Reddick was fourth at 170.466 mph in the No. 45 23XI Toyota, followed by Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports in the top Chevrolet.

Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon, Austin Cindric, William Byron and Ryan Blaney will start from positions six through 12, respectively.

The remaining four Playoff drivers qualified as follows: Joey Logano 14th, Shane van Gisbergen 20th, Chase Elliott 21st and Alex Bowman 29th.

Berry's qualifying performance was his best since starting second at Atlanta nine races ago.

'I'm super proud of that effort,' he said. 'Our big focus was trying to qualify better here, and the guys did a great job. I feel like our car is really strong, and I'm excited for (Sunday). The biggest thing I feel like I've fought here is starting position, so starting up front I think we can just manage the race easier and obviously score some stage points.

'That's going to be important, so just having a mistake-free day by taking care of the car and having good pit stops will help keep us in the hunt.'

--By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.