Ryan Blaney achieved his first Busch Light Pole Award of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season for the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, February 22.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through two qualifying rounds. Each round was comprised of a single-lap session for each of the entered competitors. After the first qualifying round, the top 10 fastest qualifiers transferred to the final single-lap round and contended for the pole position.
Qualifying Round 1
During the first qualifying session, Blaney, the 2023 Cup Series champion and driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry, was one of 10 competitors to transfer to the final round after he posted the second-fastest lap at 179.330 mph in 30.915 seconds. Among those who transferred included Blaney’s two Team Penske teammates, Austin Cindric and Joey Logano, and alliance teammate, Josh Berry, the latter of whom was driving for Wood Brothers Racing.
Ryan Blaney Wins Pole
Once in the final qualifying session, Blaney posted a pole-winning lap at 179.371 mph in 30.908 seconds, which was enough to out-qualify his Penske-affiliated teammates as Cindric, Berry and Logano all followed suit. Blaney claimed the pole by 0.002 seconds over Cindric.
By achieving his first Cup Series pole of the 2025 season, Blaney also achieved his first at Atlanta. It was also the 11th of his career and his first since he started in first place at Bristol Motor Speedway in March 2024. The pole award was also the first of the season for both Team Penske and the Ford nameplate.
Ironically, Blaney’s pole at Atlanta comes at the exact venue in which he was part of a historic three-wide photo finish with Daniel Suarez and Kyle Busch a year ago. Having been edged by 0.003 seconds over Suarez during the finish, Blaney strives to remain competitive approaching Sunday’s event and contend for his first victory at Atlanta.
Ryan Blaney Quote
“[It’s a] Really cool effort by the whole No. 12 boys,” Blaney said on Prime Video. “The BodyArmor Zero Sugar Ford Mustang was really good. [The car] Drove great. I think we got [Cindric] by like two one-thousandths of a second. That was close, but I think it just shows the speed in all our cars, the Penske cars. [Berry] is fast as well, so big props to everybody back home, everybody who’s here, Roush Yates Engines. It’s pretty cool.
“Hopefully, it carries over into tomorrow. Hopefully, [the cars] drive well. It seems to me like we have a pretty decent handle on this place, but you still never know going into the race. Cool day today. Looking forward to, hopefully, keeping all four of us [Penske drivers] up [at the front] tomorrow.”
Qualifying Top 10
Blaney will share the front row with Austin Cindric, the latter of whom posted his best qualifying lap at 179.359 mph in 30.910 seconds. Cindrick’s front-row starting spot at Atlanta comes only a week after he claimed a front-row starting spot for the 67th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
Josh Berry, who posted his best qualifying lap at 179.139 mph in 30.948 seconds, will start in third place. He will share the second row with Joey Logano, the reigning three-time Cup Series champion.
Joey Logano posted a final qualifying lap at 178.827 mph in 31.002 seconds after a lap at 179.464 mph in 30.892 during the first session and will start in fourth place.
Todd Gilliland qualified in fifth place. Kyle Busch, the lone non-Ford competitor who transferred through to the final qualifying round, will start in sixth place in his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet entry. Zane Smith, Chris Buecher, Brad Keselowski and Noah Gragson completed the top-10 starting spots.
Qualifying Results
Ryan Preece, Bubba Wallace, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, Chase Briscoe, rookie Riley Herbst, Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez, rookie Shane van Gisbergen, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, Ty Gibbs and Denny Hamlin qualified 11th, 14th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 25th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 32nd, 33rd, 36th and 37th, respectively.
With 39 competitors vying for 39 starting spots, all of the entered competitors qualified for the event.
Qualifying position, best speed, best time:
1. Ryan Blaney, 179.371 mph, 30.908 seconds
2. Austin Cindric, 179.359 mph, 30.910 seconds
3. Josh Bery, 179.139 mph, 30.948 seconds
4. Joey Logano, 178.827 mph, 31.002 seconds
5. Todd Gilliland, 178.735 mph, 31.018 seconds
6. Kyle Busch, 178.626 mph, 31.037 seconds
7. Zane Smith, 178.436 mph, 31.070 seconds
8. Chris Buescher, 178.264 mph, 31.100 seconds
9. Brad Keselowski, 178.252 mph, 31.102 seconds
10. Noah Gragson, 178.086 mph, 31.131 seconds
11. Ryan Preece, 178.212 mph, 31.109 seconds
12. AJ Allmendinger, 178.103 mph, 31.128 seconds
13. Alex Bowman, 177.949 mph, 31.155 seconds
14. Bubba Wallace, 177.670 mph, 31.204 seconds
15. Austin Dillon, 177.664 mph, 31.205 seconds
16. William Byron, 177.550 mph, 31.225 seconds
17. Kyle Larson, 177.550 mph, 31.225 seconds
18. Tyler Reddick, 177.533 mph, 31.228 seconds
19. Chase Elliott, 177.533 mph, 31.228 seconds
20. Ty Dillon, 177.476 mph, 31.238 seconds
21. Justin Haley, 177.453 mph, 31.242 seconds
22. John Hunter Nemechek, 177.408 mph, 31.250 seconds
23. Cole Custer, 177.374 mph, 31.256 seconds
24. Michael McDowell, 177.323 mph, 31.265 seconds
25. Chase Briscoe, 177.221 mph, 31.283 seconds
26. Carson Hocevar, 177.170 mph, 31.292 seconds
27. Riley Herbst, 177.170 mph, 31.292 seconds
28. Erik Jones, 176.966 mph, 31.328 seconds
29. Daniel Suarez, 176.944 mph, 31.332 seconds
30. Shane van Gisbergen, 176.921 mph, 31.336 seconds
31. Cody Ware, 176.594 mph, 31.394 seconds
32. Christopher Bell, 176.426 mph, 31.424 seconds
33. Ross Chastain, 176.398 mph, 31.429 seconds
34. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 175.922 mph, 31.514 seconds
35. Corey LaJoie, 175.833 mph, 31.530 seconds
36. Ty Gibbs, 175.749 mph, 31.545 seconds
37. Denny Hamlin, 174.895 mph, 31.699 seconds
38. BJ McLeod, 173.554 mph, 31.944 seconds
39. JJ Yeley, 171.880 mph, 32.255 seconds
The 2025 Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway is set to occur on Sunday, February 23, and air at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.
