Kyle Larson was fasted in NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Phoenix Raceway and claimed the Busch Light Pole Award for Sunday’s United Rentals Work United 500. He led the session in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a 130.237 mph lap, earning his second career pole at Phoenix and his 15th career pole.
Larson also topped the practice session Friday and explained the significance of starting on the pole at the one-mile track.
“It means a lot,” Larson said. “Qualifying is really important here. We got the pole in 2021 and that really helped us win the championship race. Joey (Logano) had an extremely fast car in the fall last year, but he got the pole as well and won. So I think that number one pit stall means a lot.
“Happy to be quick this weekend,” he added, “quick in practice and have it translate to qualifying.”
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin was second fastest (129.931 mph) followed by Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron (129.922 mph). Brad Keselowski will start fourth in the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford (129.762 mph) and JGR’s Christopher Bell rounded out the top five at in his JGR Toyota (129.580 mph).
Ross Chastain, Michael McDowell, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch and Erik Jones completed the top-10 in qualifying.
The United Rentals Work United 500 is scheduled for Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX with radio coverage by MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
