Chase Briscoe captured the Busch Light Pole Award for the 2025 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 24.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through a standard practice and qualifying procedure. The field was split into two 25-minute practice sessions apiece. After practice, they rejoined forces to participate in one single-lap qualifying session (impound). The groups and order were determined by metrics that included 70% based on previous race finish by owner and 30% based on owner points standings, with the best-scoring competitors placed in the second group.
Briscoe was the 23rd-fastest competitor during the event’s lone practice session on Saturday but clocked a lap at 182.852 mph in 29.532 seconds during qualifying. The lap was enough for him to claim the pole for NASCAR’s longest event on the schedule in Concord, North Carolina.
Briscoe, who is in his first season driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry XSE entry for Joe Gibbs Racing, notched his second NASCAR Cup Series pole of the 2025 season. It was his first since this year’s Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in February and the fourth of his career. The pole award was the third of the year for Joe Gibbs Racing and the fourth for the Toyota nameplate.
Briscoe, the 2024 Southern 500 champion from Mitchell, Indiana, is currently ranked in 12th place in the 2025 driver’s standings on the strength of five top-10 results through the first 12 scheduled events. With the 2025 Cup Series regular-season stretch nearing its halfway mark, Briscoe continues his pursuit of his first victory of the year that would enable him to make the Playoffs.
“The No. 19 car’s been really good here,” Briscoe said. “This is the first track I got to run a mile-and-a-half in this car. We came and did the Goodyear tire test [in March]. I was able to really learn things throughout today. I definitely felt confident coming into this weekend. We’ve had speed all year long. I just haven’t been able to perform good enough on Saturday on my end to put us in position. [I] Finally did that. Hopefully, I can do my job tomorrow now.”
Top-5
Kyle Larson, who is pulling the Memorial Day double-duty attempt by competing in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day, and will start in second place for the latter event. Larson’s best lap occurred at 182.729 mph in 29.552 seconds. He will next return to Indianapolis, where he will start in 19th place for this year’s 109th running of the Indy 500 which will occur on Sunday, May 25, at 12:45 p.m. ET. Immediately after the event, Larson will fly back to Charlotte to compete in the Coca-Cola 600 which is scheduled to commence at 6 p.m. ET.
William Byron, this year’s two-time Daytona 500 champion who is fresh off inking a new four-year contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports, missed out on the pole but will line up in third place with a qualifying lap at 182.642 mph in 29.566 seconds. He will be followed by Chris Buescher and AJ Allmendinger, respectively, in the top five.
John Hunter Nemechek, Ty Gibbs, Noah Gragson, Alex Bowman and Christopher Bell, the latter of whom is the reigning Charlotte Coca-Cola 600 champion, completed the top-10 starting grid.
Notably, the following names including Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Tyler Reddick, Austin Cindric, Michael McDowell, Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Josh Berry, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Daniel Suarez, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Ryan Preece, rookie Shane van Gisbergen, rookie Riley Herbst, Bubba Wallace, Connor Zilisch, Brad Keselowski and Carson Hocevar will start 11th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 30th, 31st, 32nd, 33rd, 35th and 39th, respectively.
The lone competitor who did not post a qualifying lap at Charlotte was Ross Chastain. The Alva, Florida, native was involved in a single-car accident through Turns 3 and 4 and blew a left-rear tire. Chastain will take the green flag for Sunday’s event at the rear of the field.
With 40 competitors vying for 40 starting spots, all of the entered competitors made the event.
Qualifying position, best speed, best time:
1. Chase Briscoe, 182.852 mph, 29.532 seconds
2. Kyle Larson, 182.729 mph, 29.552 seconds
3. William Byron, 182.642 mph, 29.566 seconds
4. Chris Buescher, 182.063 mph, 29.660 seconds
5. AJ Allmendinger, 181.916 mph, 29.684 seconds
6. John Hunter Nemechek, 181.665 mph, 29.725 seconds
7. Ty Gibbs, 181.531 mph, 29.747 seconds
8. Noah Gragson, 181.153 mph, 29.809 seconds
9. Alex Bowman, 181.123 mph, 29.814 seconds
10. Christopher Bell, 181.117 mph, 29.815 seconds
11. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 180.923 mph, 29.847 seconds
12. Tyler Reddick, 180.905 mph, 29.850 seconds
13. Justin Haley, 180.868 mph, 29.856 seconds
14. Austin Cindric, 180.777 mph, 29.871 seconds
15. Michael McDowell, 180.620 mph, 29.897 seconds
16. Joey Logano, 180.505 mph, 29.916 seconds
17. Jimmie Johnson, 180.445 mph, 29.926 seconds
18. Josh Berry, 180.180 mph, 29.970 seconds
19. Ty Dillon, 180.072 mph, 29.988 seconds
20. Denny Hamlin, 179.868 mph, 30.022 seconds
21. Ryan Blaney, 179.826 mph, 30.029 seconds
22. Chase Elliott, 179.778 mph, 30.037 seconds
23. Zane Smith, 179.766 mph, 30.039 seconds
24. Kyle Busch, 179.742 mph, 30.043 seconds
25. Daniel Suarez, 179.623 mph, 30.063 seconds
26. Austin Dillon, 179.497 mph, 30.084 seconds
27. Erik Jones, 179.402 mph, 30.100 seconds
28. Ryan Preece, 179.319 mph, 30.114 seconds
29. Cole Custer, 179.122 mph, 30.147 seconds
30. Shane van Gisbergen, 179.039 mph, 30.161 seconds
31. Riley Herbst, 178.678 mph, 30.222 seconds
32. Bubba Wallace, 178.353 mph, 30.277 seconds
33. Connor Zilisch, 178.194 mph, 30.304 seconds
34. Todd Gilliland, 178.136 mph, 30.314 seconds
35. Brad Keselowski, 178.136 mph, 30.314 seconds
36. Cody Ware, 175.993 mph, 30.683 seconds
37. Derek Kraus, 171.827 mph, 31.427 seconds
38. Josh Bilicki, 167.385 mph, 32.261 seconds
39. Carson Hocevar, 149.402 mph, 36.144 seconds
40. Ross Chastain, 0.000 mph, 0.000 seconds
The 2025 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway is set to occur on Sunday, May 25, and air at 6 p.m. ET on Prime Video.
