Briscoe’s Hot Streak Continues with Busch Light Pole at Iowa

Chase Briscoe captured the NASCAR Cup Series Busch Light Pole award at Iowa Speedway Saturday afternoon. He set the pace during the qualifying session with a lap time of 23.004 seconds at 136.933 mph.

He gave much of the credit to his crew chief, James Small, and their working relationship.

“I just feel that James and the engineers on the No.19 crew have done a really, really good job, especially these last two months, of understanding what I want and what I need out of the race car,” Briscoe said.

“I’ve even kind of noticed a switch with James over the course of the last two or three weeks, even, where it went from ‘We’ve got to be doing this different’, to ‘we’ve got to get the car better for you now.’

“I think that came as they started to understand me more, and our performance has been better,” he continued. “James does such a great job of understanding what I need, especially on Saturdays for qualifying.”

William Byron will start on the front row beside Briscoe in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet after posting a 136.435 mph lap. His teammate, Kyle Larson, will start third after a 136.429 mph lap. Austin Cindric (136.358) and Brad Keselowski (136.252) completed the top five fastest competitors.

Ryan Blaney, last year’s winner, will start sixth. Carson Hocevar, Chase Elliott, AJ Allmendinger and Justin Haley completed the top 10.

Kyle Busch, who wrecked during Cup Series practice, will drive a backup car and start the race at the back of the field.

The NASCAR Cup Series Iowa Corn 350, Powered by Ethanol, will be broadcast on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on the USA Network and HBO Max. Radio coverage will be provided by MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Starting Lineup