William Byron captures Cup Series Pole at Circuit of the Americas

William Byron won the Busch Light Pole at Circuit of the Americas and will lead the field to green Sunday afternoon in the Cup Series EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix. It’s his first pole this season, his 13th career pole and his second-straight pole at the 3.426-mile track.

“I feel really happy with the way the week’s gone and I feel very fresh going into this race,” Byron said. “We’ve just got to go through the process of the race. Just manage the runs, have enough long-run speed. I feel we got a good balance with our car. We’ve been struggling to have smooth races, so this is a good start.”

The Hendrick Motorsports driver was fastest overall in his No. 24 Chevrolet during practice Saturday and he carried that momentum over to earn the top spot in the qualifying session with a lap of 94.696 mph.

Ty Gibbs will join him on the front row in the No. 54 Toyota as 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick will start third in the No. 45 Toyota. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell (No. 20 Toyota) and Spire Motorsports’ Corey LaJoie (No. 7 Chevrolet) claimed the remaining top five starting spots. It will be LaJoie’s best Cup Series career starting position.

Ross Chastain, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott and Bubba Wallace rounded out the top 10.

The highest qualifying Ford was the No. 2 Team Penske Ford driven by Austin Cindric who will start 11th. Rookie Shane van Gisbergen will start 12th in the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet.
You can tune into the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX with radio coverage provided by PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Notes:

Kyle Larson was late to the qualifying session as the Hendrick Motorsports team had to change a rotor. Larson will start Sunday’s race in 15th.

Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi, who will be making his second NASCAR start, qualified 25th in the No. 50 23XI Racing Toyota.

  1.   William Byron
  2.   Ty Gibbs
  3.   Tyler Reddick
  4.   Christopher Bell
  5.   Corey LaJoie
  6.   Ross Chastain
  7.   Martin Truex Jr.
  8.   Denny Hamlin
  9.   Chase Elliott
  10. Bubba Wallace
  11. Austin Cindric
  12. Shane Van Gisbergen
  13. Justin Haley
  14. A.J. Allmendinger
  15. Kyle Larson
  16. Kyle Busch
  17. Alex Bowman
  18. Carson Hocevar (R)
  19. Daniel Suarez
  20. Chris Buescher
  21. Austin Dillon
  22. John Hunter Nemechek
  23. Kaz Grala (R)
  24. Ryan Preece
  25. Kamui Kobayashi
  26. Todd Gilliland
  27. Michael McDowell
  28. Ryan Blaney
  29. Harrison Burton
  30. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  31. Josh Berry (R)
  32. Chase Briscoe
  33. Daniel Hemric
  34. Zane Smith (R)
  35. Joey Logano
  36. Brad Keselowski
  37. Timmy Hill
  38. Erik Jones
  39. Noah Gragson

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

Angie Campbell
Angie Campbell
A native of Charlotte, NC, Angela (Angie) was first introduced to racing by her father. An avid fan of NASCAR, she found a way to combine her love of racing with her passion for writing. Angie is also an award-winning member of the National Motorsports Press Association. Follow her on Twitter @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

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