NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at BRISTOL 2014 Watch FREE Live Stream Online & Listen: Live Coverage from Bristol Motor Speedway; STARTING GRID

Perhaps the rest of NASCAR is catching up with frequent pole sitters Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski. Today at 1:00 p.m. ET the Sprint Cup Series at Bristol Motor Speedway will get underway on Fox with Denny Hamlin in front. Live stream the race for free by clicking this link.

Hamlin set the Bristol grid record with a qualifying lap of 129.991 miles an hour, breaking his teammate Kyle Busch's record that was set just last year.

"As a short track guy, I can feel when, 'OK, this is all I've got.' Or, 'This is a really good lap," Hamlin said. By taking the pole he became the first driver not named Logano or Keselowski to start a Sprint Cup Series race in first place since NASCAR instituted the new qualifying format.

"If that wasn't a top-12 lap, we were in big trouble. So I knew that was going to be good. Then ultimately strategy comes into play, wanting to conserve your car and keeping everything as cool as you can for the second segment," Hamlin said.

"I was going to run two laps in the second segment, but I bobbled it pretty bad into Turn 3 and didn't finish the lap. But I knew the first one was good."

Keselowski still did well, coming in second, while Logano will start in fourth position. "I feel like we did what we were supposed to do to be able to go out there and give it a shot for the pole," said Logano. "Denny's strategy was pretty good. Just not good enough for us."

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who wont he Daytona 500 and is racing as well as he has in his entire career will begin in 14^th position.