Continuing the Hendrick Motorsports momentum in 2020, Chase Elliott qualified on the pole at Phoenix Raceway for the NASCAR Cup Series FanShield 500 with a time of 26.06 seconds/138.116 mph, edging out nine-time Phoenix winner, Kevin Harvick by 0.045 seconds.
“The line through Turns 1 and 2 was a lot different,” Elliott said. “Kevin (Harvick) kind of made the top line work and then I think after that, everyone saw that and moved up. So, it’s great to get a pole. We’re in a little bit different colors this week with Unifirst on our Camaro. So, I’m excited to grab them a pole. It’s always a good thing when you can put down a fast lap. Hopefully, I just hope tomorrow goes good. That’s always the challenge. We’ll see, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Meanwhile, last week’s Auto Club 400 winner and Elliott’s teammate, Alex Bowman, qualified in the eighth position for Sunday’s race. Though, this weekend might prove a little bit of a challenge for the hometown native of Tuscon, Arizona.
“I didn’t expect more,” Bowman said. “I really felt like we’ve been off since we unloaded. We really struggled here in the fall with just being really tight and when we unloaded, we were still really tight. In between practices, we made some changes and got it really loose. It didn’t really necessarily get much faster, but I feel like it’s going to be better that way than when it’s tight. The first lap, I probably over-did it a little bit in turn one there. The second lap, to be eighth, I don’t think that’s the end of the world. I would have liked to be a little better, but as bad as we’ve been here in the fast and as bad as were in practice, we’ll take it. If we could come out of here with a top-ten, I would be high-fiving people after the race. Our short track program, this is the area we need to work on. Our intermediate program is phenomenal and it ended that way last year. Our short track program is the area we need to work on the most.”
Official Qualifying Results
- Chase Elliott
- Kevin Harvick
- Denny Hamlin
- Kyle Larson
- Ryan Blaney
- Aric Almirola
- Kurt Busch
- Alex Bowman
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Kyle Busch
- Erik Jones
- Martin Truex Jr. (Will start in the rear due to engine change prior to qualifying)
- Joey Logano
- Brad Keselowski
- Christopher Bell
- Cole Custer
- William Byron
- Clint Bowyer
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Ryan Preece
- Jimmie Johnson
- Michael McDowell
- Chris Buescher
- Ross Chastain
- Ty Dillon
- John Hunter Nemechek (Will start in the rear for a radiator change)
- Bubba Wallace
- Corey LaJoie
- Tyler Reddick
- Austin Dillon
- Daniel Suarez
- Brennan Poole
- J.J. Yeley
- Quin Houff
- Reed Sorenson
- Garrett Smithley
- Joey Gase
- Timmy Hill
The Fan Shield can be seen on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET live on regular FOX. The stages are 75-115-122 equaling 312 laps.
