NASCAR CUP SERIES
PHOENIX RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST-QUALIFYING REPORT
MARCH 8, 2025
William Byron Drives Chevrolet to First Cup Series Pole Win of the Season at Phoenix Raceway
TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 STARTING LINEUP:
POS. DRIVER
1st – William Byron
3rd – Carson Hocevar
6th – Chase Elliott
7th – Michael McDowell
8th – Justin Haley
- Hitting the track as the final driver to lay down a lap in the NASCAR Cup Series’ qualifying session at Phoenix Raceway, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron laid down a monster lap of 26.930 seconds – knocking the series’ reigning champion, Joey Logano, off the top of the leaderboard to earn the pole position for tomorrow’s Shriners Children’s 500.
- The pole – Chevrolet’s first of the 2025 season and 754th all-time in the division – came after the 27-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina, native drove his No. 24 Chevrolet to the only qualifying lap in the 26-second bracket among the 37-driver field.
- Byron extended Chevrolet’s pole-winning record at Phoenix Raceway to 22 all-time in NASCAR’s top division, with now 16 of those feats coming alongside Hendrick Motorsports.
- Chevrolet drivers will take five of the top-10 starting positions for tomorrow’s 312-mile race. Joining Byron includes all three Spire Motorsports entries, with Carson Hocevar in third, Michael McDowell in seventh and Justin Haley in eighth, as well as Byron’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Chase Elliott, in sixth.
Chevrolet’s all-time NASCAR Cup Series statistics at Phoenix Raceway:
Wins: 27
Poles: 22
Top-Fives: 125
Top-10s: 244
Chevrolet’s season statistics with four NASCAR Cup Series races complete:
Wins: 1
Poles: 1
Top-Fives: 7
Top-10s: 13
William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Pole Win Quotes:
William, we spoke before the practice session kind of about the option tires and what you thought about it. Now that you have a bunch of laps in practice and qualifying, what do you make of them and how did they fall off for you?
“Honestly, I thought the tire was great. You know, I think it fell off some with heat and just kind of starting to slide around. But I felt like the tire felt good as soon as we bolted it on.
Obviously, more grip to fire off, so more pace on the short run. And then, you know, honestly, the progression throughout the run was exactly what you would want to see. So, I just had more grip, and then I felt personally like our car was pretty good on that tire.
We have a little bit of work to do on the yellow, but I don’t see any problems with the red. I think that it’s going to put on and promote a good race and probably a lot of variation between the tires.”
Some guys have come in here and they indicate that they kind of knew what their race strategy was, as far as the tires. Are you pretty aware of what your plan is or do you guys not really discuss a plan until you saw what they did today?
“Yeah, I have really no idea what the plan is, per se.
I think that we have a general sense of kind of when we would put on the reds, but you have to have, you know, some of those in reserve for the end. So, yeah, I just know that there’s probably going to be some varying strategies because the guys in the back of the field will be able to do something different. So, I anticipate everyone kind of being on different stuff, but probably your top-10 guys will be on the same.”
Does being on the pole in some ways dictate your strategy? Because if you were a little further back, maybe you would just say, okay, I have a win. Let me just try to earn a couple playoff points early…
“Yeah, maybe. I wish I knew a little bit more about the strategy. I try to stay a little bit removed just because I feel like it overwhelms my brain. So, just honestly for me, I think when we’re up front, we’re just going to probably do the same thing that the other guys in the top-five that we’re racing with.
And yeah, it’s going to open the door for, you know, a 20th place guy — like (Daniel) Suarez did at Richmond, basically, where he had not a great race going and put on the reds and capitalized, and I think there was a caution or something. But yeah, I don’t know. I think it could change things a bit, but for me, I’m just focused on having the best car we can get on both tires.”
William, you hear a lot about how important the first pit stall is in winning the pole at Phoenix. Is that pit stall even more important this time around with the option tires or is it more or less the same?
“No, I don’t think it really matters as much as it used to since they changed the line. Like I had the number one stall in the fall and I think it’s not as much of an advantage. So, no, I think this place has a lot room on pit road too.
So, there’s a lot of places you can have a good pit stall. So, no, I think this place matters a lot less on pit stall selection than a lot of other places. Like if you go to, you know, an SMI track that they have a pretty narrow pit road, the way that the dog leg is, it’s way more important there.”
Kyle Busch was just in here moments ago and he said he wished that there were more option tires available. Obviously, two stickers for tomorrow. Do you have that same feeling?
“Yeah, like I think that’s my consensus on the strategy is it’s going to be pretty straightforward because there’s only two sets. So, I personally would like to see us just go to the red and eliminate the yellow, and then just have red tires because I feel like they fall off more and you’ll see more like what you had at Martinsville in the fall. So, yeah, I don’t really love the fact that we’re alternating, but I mean it’s going to create an interesting race for sure.”
Kyle Busch was in here a few minutes ago and he talked about respect in NASCAR and how last week’s finish was a win for the sport. I’m curious, from your perspective being involved, what is the importance of having a clean finish of a race?
“It all depends on who you’re racing, you know, and that’s what people ask me throughout the week like — oh, what’s going through your head and all this stuff. And it’s like, me and (Christopher) Bell have always raced really well. I have a lot of respect for he and Adam and their team and what they do. I think that when you’re racing the same guys every week, you learn kind of their tendencies and you always have a memory of what happens on the racetrack. And yeah, so I think it is very situational, but I think that there needs to be a greater level of respect in general throughout the field. And still race hard because this car requires you to race hard and there is contact. So, yeah so to me, it’s all about who you’re racing.”
Do you think with the higher temperatures tomorrow and Xfinity rubber on the track, will that impact significantly or at all the tire wear?
“I mean, it’ll be worse. It’ll be worse than today, but I think this place is just starting to age and we’ve had hotter races than this weekend for sure. Like the last few, we’ve had some 90 degree races, so it’s not going to be as bad as that. But I think this track is starting to get some really good age to it. It is still difficult to pass because there is no banking to lean on, especially in (turns) one and two. So if you want to be aggressive, it’s hard to be, but you’re seeing the apron start to become a bigger deal and I just think the racetrack is starting to lose grip. So you’ll have more wear because of that.”
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