Kyle Larson claims Phoenix pole for Cup Series race
Kyle Larson won the Busch Light Pole Award for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway in Saturday’s qualifying session.
Larson wheeled his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to a pole speed of 130.237 mph, besting Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin for the top spot on the starting grid by just 0.065 seconds.
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Larson’s teammate William Byron will start third with a lap average speed of 129.922 mph alongside RFK Racing co-owner and driver Brad Keselowski in fourth at 129.762 mph. JGR’s Christopher Bell rounded out the top five at 129.580 mph.
Completing the top 10 in the starting grid were Ross Chastain, Michael McDowell, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch and Erik Jones.
The quick times posted by Larson and Byron came despite some trouble for Hendrick Motorsports cars on Friday. NASCAR officials confiscated the hood louvers from each of the four Hendrick entries, including those from Alex Bowman and Josh Berry. The sanctioning body will bring those back to the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, for further evaluation but the team was levied no penalty yet.
Daniel Suárez will start 11th in the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, failing to advance to the pole round by just 0.004 seconds to teammate Chastain. The Fords of Team Penske and Stewart-Haas Racing were fast in Friday’s 50-minute practice session, but only one of those seven entries — Ryan Blaney — advanced to the top 10 in Saturday’s qualifying session.
MORE: Recap Friday’s practice session | Phoenix schedule
Kevin Harvick of SHR was the quickest of the remaining six in 15th place with Penske’s Joey Logano 16th. Harvick is eyeing his 20th consecutive top-10 finish at Phoenix, which would extend the Cup Series record he holds of most consecutive top 10s at one track.
Chase Briscoe, Harvick’s teammate at SHR, will roll off from the 24th position on Sunday. Briscoe scored his first career Cup victory in March 2022 at Phoenix.
This story will be updated.
