William Byron was left both stunned and elated as he snatched the Busch Light Pole Award for the Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, March 8.
A standard practice and qualifying procedure determined the event’s starting lineup. The entire field hit the track for a 45-minute practice session followed by a single-lap qualifying session (impound).
Byron posted the sixth-fastest lap overall at 132.120 mph in 27.248 seconds during the qualifying session and was the last competitor to qualify. He posted a pole-winning lap at 133.680 mph in 26.930 seconds. Byron’s single-qualifying lap was enough to knock Joey Logano off of the top of the leaderboard and claim the pole position for Sunday’s main event in the desert state.
With the pole, Byron, this year’s two-time Daytona 500 champion and a Hendrick Motorsports driver from Charlotte, North Carolina, notched his 14th NASCAR Cup Series career pole. It was his first of the 2025 season and his second at Phoenix. Byron’s first Cup Series pole at Phoenix was in November 2023 as he was competing for the series’ championship. After winning the spring Phoenix event in March 2023 he strives to double down on his win column at Phoenix and in the 2025 season.
“I did not hit my marks,” Byron said on Prime Video. He continued, “I was sideways, I just carried a ton of entry speed. I missed the middle of the corner and just coming off the dogleg, I was so loose. I was just gonna try to commit to the exits and see how much I could get out of the exits, even though I missed the center.”
“Just a fast car,” Byron added. “Thanks to my whole team. They’ve been bringing great cars and we’ve been doing a really good job executing. [I] Definitely want to go out there and have a great day tomorrow. I feel like our car was really good on race trim…I just committed to it and the grip was there.”
Byron will share the front row with Joey Logano, the latter of whom clocked in his best qualifying lap at 133.195 mph in 27.028 seconds. Logano, the reigning three-time Cup Series champion from Middletown, Connecticut, is a four-time winner at Phoenix, the venue where he claimed his last two titles and where he won the 2020 Phoenix spring race event.
Carson Hocevar achieved his second top-four starting spot of the 2025 season by qualifying in third place with a qualifying lap at 133.121 mph in 27.043 seconds. He will start ahead of Josh Berry and Erik Jones. Ironically, both Berry and Jones achieved their second top-four starting spots for the main Sunday’s main event at Phoenix.
Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell, Justin Haley, Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin will start in the top 10, respectively. Christopher Bell, winner of the previous two Cup events at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Circuit of the Americas, respectively, will start in 11th place.
The following drivers, including Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, rookie Riley Herbst, Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski, Ross Chastain, rookie Shane van Gisbergen, Chase Briscoe, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman, Noah Gragson and Ty Gibbs qualified 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 24th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 32nd, 33rd and 34th, respectively.
Notably, Katherine Legge will be the first female driver to compete in a Cup Series event in seven years and will round out the starting grid in 37th place.
With 37 competitors vying for 37 starting spots, all competitors made the main event.
Qualifying position, best speed, best time:
1. William Byron, 133.680 mph, 26.930 seconds
2. Joey Logano, 133.195 mph, 27.028 seconds
3. Carson Hocevar, 133.121 mph, 27.043 seconds
4. Josh Berry, 132.900 mph, 27.088 seconds
5. Erik Jones, 132.885 mph, 27.091 seconds
6. Chase Elliott, 132.846 mph, 27.099 seconds
7. Michael McDowell, 132.846 mph, 27.099 seconds
8. Justin Haley, 132.787 mph, 27.111 seconds
9. Tyler Reddick, 132.778 mph, 27.113 seconds
10. Denny Hamlin, 132.597 mph, 27.150 seconds
11. Christopher Bell, 132.582 mph, 27.153 seconds
12. Ryan Blaney, 132.563 mph, 27.157 seconds
13. Chris Buescher, 132.509 mph, 27.168 seconds
14. Austin Cindric, 132.499 mph, 27.170 seconds
15. Kyle Busch, 132.406 mph, 27.189 seconds
16. AJ Allmendinger, 132.251 mph, 27.221 seconds
17. Kyle Larson, 132.246 mph, 27.222 seconds
18. Riley Herbst, 132.227 mph, 27.226 seconds
19. Bubba Wallace, 132.071 mph, 27.258 seconds
20. Brad Keselowski, 131.945 mph, 27.284 seconds
21. Austin Dillon, 131.762 mph, 27.322 seconds
22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 131.704 mph, 27.334 seconds
23. Cole Cuter, 131.675 mph, 27.340 seconds
24. Ross Chastain, 131.627 mph, 27.350 seconds
25. Ty Dillon, 131.560 mph, 27.364 seconds
26. Zane Smith, 131.521 mph, 27.372 seconds
27. Todd Gilliland, 131.109 mph, 27.458 seconds
28. Ryan Preece, 131.081 mph, 27.464 seconds
29. Shane van Gisbergen, 131.004 mph, 27.480 seconds
30. Chase Briscoe, 130.814 mph, 27.520 seconds
31. Daniel Suarez, 130.648 mph, 27.555 seconds
32. Alex Bowman, 130.213 mph, 27.647 seconds
33. Noah Gragson, 130.152 mph, 27.660 seconds
34. Ty Gibbs, 130.053 mph, 27.681 seconds
35. Cody Ware, 129.375 mph, 27.826 seconds
36. John Hunter Nemechek, 129.301 mph, 27.842 seconds
37. Katherine Legge, 128.297 mph, 28.060 seconds
The 2025 Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway is set to occur on Sunday, March 9, and air at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
