DOVER — Denny Hamlin has another top spot in his comeback from a back injury.

He’ll need to turn poles into checkered flags if he wants to make a serious run at a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship.

Hamlin turned a lap of 157.978 mph Friday to win the pole at Dover International Speedway. He won the pole last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway and has three overall this season.

But a four-race absence because of his injury has him needing wins to make the Chase and race for his first career championship. Hamlin, who finished fourth last week, has never won at Dover. He has only a 19.6 average finish in 14 career races on the mile track. Hamlin’s fourth-place finish moved him up three spots to 24th in the standings, 53 points out of 20th position, where he’d need to be to be eligible for one of two wild-card berths.

Martin Truex Jr., who raced to his only career Cup victory at Dover, will start second and joined Hamlin for an all-Toyota front row. Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Ryan Newman rounded out the top five. Points leader Jimmie Johnson qualified 24th.