DARLINGTON, S.C. – William Byron captured the pole for the 70th Annual Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway with a lap of 28.51 seconds (172.487 mph). This was Byron’s first career pole at the 1.366-mile track known as the “Lady in Black’ and the ‘Track to Tough to Tame.’
Byron is also the youngest drive to win the pole at the historic track. It was the fourth of his Cup Series career and will be his 12th top 10 start this season. Byron hit another milestone by becoming only the third driver to win poles at NASCAR’s three crown jewel races that include the Daytona 500, the Coca-Cola 600 and the Southern 500, in one season. Bill Elliott and Glen ‘Fireball’ Roberts are the only other drivers to accomplish this feat.
“Our race setup (at Darlington) was good in qualifying trim,” Byron said. “It just happened to work out that way that we focused on qualifying, and I’m sure Chad (Knaus) puts his extra little bit into it too and I kind of put my extra couple cents into it to make sure I hit everything right.
“I felt good driving down here this morning. Only having to make one lap today is pretty easy, so I said, ‘Go on out there and try to not screw up and make a good lap.'”
Brad Keselowski qualified second, Kyle Larson third, Kurt Busch was fourth and Daniel Suarez rounded out the top-5 qualifiers.
“I felt good about my lap,” Larson said after qualifying third. “The balance was fine. I could have maybe come to the green a little bit better but I don’t think I would have had a shot at the pole. We had a lot of speed in happy hour so I’m pretty confident going into the race tomorrow. You never know until the race starts, but I felt really good about it.”
Larson’s teammate, Kurt Busch, was happy with his fourth place effort.
“For us, I thought it was a good lap. Everything seemed to match up. We ran a fast lap in practice yesterday, we just didn’t pick up as much as everyone else did. That half of a tenth adds up quick in qualifying. We have a really good race car with the downforce that’s on it and we weren’t too trimmed out, so to speak, for a run at the pole. We were really digging hard to get another pole at the Southern 500. Fourth is a good spot to be and we’ll go from there.”
Sunday’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
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Darlington Raceway
Starting Lineup for the Bojangles’ Southern 500
Provided by NASCAR Statistics
Bojangles’ Southern 500
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Time | Speed |
| 1 | 24 | William Byron | HendrickAtgrd/CtyChvrltThrwbck Chev | 28.51 | 172.487 |
| 2 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Miller Ford | 28.576 | 172.088 |
| 3 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Clover Chevrolet | 28.617 | 171.842 |
| 4 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet Accessories Chevrolet | 28.63 | 171.764 |
| 5 | 41 | Daniel Suarez | Haas Automation Ford | 28.704 | 171.321 |
| 6 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Ally Throwback Chevrolet | 28.724 | 171.202 |
| 7 | 22 | Joey Logano | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 28.756 | 171.011 |
| 8 | 9 | Chase Elliott | NAPA Throwback Chevrolet | 28.766 | 170.952 |
| 9 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | FedEx Darlington Throwback Toyota | 28.787 | 170.827 |
| 10 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Menards/Pennzoil Ford | 28.801 | 170.744 |
| 11 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Busch Beer/Big Buck Hunter Ford | 28.812 | 170.679 |
| 12 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Kroger Fast Lane to Flavor Chevrolet | 28.829 | 170.578 |
| 13 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Ford | 28.831 | 170.566 |
| 14 | 3 | Austin Dillon | American Ethanol Chevrolet | 28.841 | 170.507 |
| 15 | 20 | Erik Jones | Sport Clips Throwback Toyota | 28.848 | 170.466 |
| 16 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Axalta Throwback Chevrolet | 28.855 | 170.425 |
| 17 | 21 | Paul Menard | Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford | 28.872 | 170.324 |
| 18 | 8 | Daniel Hemric # | Caterpillar Chevrolet | 28.892 | 170.206 |
| 19 | 95 | Matt DiBenedetto | No. 95 IMSA GTO Throwback Toyota | 28.905 | 170.13 |
| 20 | 47 | Ryan Preece # | Kroger Chevrolet | 28.91 | 170.1 |
| 21 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Dog’s Most Wanted Ford | 28.931 | 169.977 |
| 22 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Bass Pro Shops Toyota | 28.956 | 169.83 |
| 23 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Dockside Logistics Ford | 29.017 | 169.473 |
| 24 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Oscar Mayer/Velveeta Ford | 29.019 | 169.461 |
| 25 | 0 | Landon Cassill(i) | StarCom Fiber Chevrolet | 29.087 | 169.065 |
| 26 | 38 | David Ragan | Shriners Hospital for Children Ford | 29.097 | 169.007 |
| 27 | 32 | Corey LaJoie | CorvetteParts.net Ford | 29.103 | 168.972 |
| 28 | 43 | Bubba Wallace | Victory Junction 15th Anniversary Chevrolet | 29.163 | 168.625 |
| 29 | 13 | Ty Dillon | GEICO Chevrolet | 29.173 | 168.567 |
| 30 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Smithfield Ford | 29.229 | 168.244 |
| 31 | 15 | Ross Chastain(i) | Chevrolet | 29.239 | 168.186 |
| 32 | 36 | Matt Tifft # | Hilliker Glass/Surface Ford | 29.272 | 167.997 |
| 33 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Snickers Throwback Toyota | 29.385 | 167.351 |
| 34 | 77 | Reed Sorenson | Motor Racing Network Chevrolet | 29.764 | 165.22 |
| 35 | 52 | JJ Yeley(i) | JACOB Companies Chevrolet | 29.796 | 165.042 |
| 36 | 51 | BJ McLeod(i) | JACOB Companies Chevrolet | 30.07 | 163.538 |
| 37 | 27 | * Joe Nemechek(i) | Chevrolet | 30.26 | 162.512 |
| 38 | 54 | * Garrett Smithley(i) | AQRE App Chevrolet | 30.568 | 160.874 |
| 39 | 66 | * Joey Gase(i) | MBM Motorsports Toyota | 30.888 | 159.207 |
