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Tag: Busch Light Pole Award

  • Kyle Larson scores Busch Light Pole Award at Richmond

    Kyle Larson scores Busch Light Pole Award at Richmond

    Kyle Larson won the Busch Light Pole award at Richmond Raceway Saturday evening with a 117.177 mph lap in his Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet.

    It’s his third NASCAR Cup Series pole of the season and the 13th of his career.

    Larson was the final driver to qualify in the second round and he described how he thought he gained enough speed to outpace Ross Chastain for the pole.

    “Even though I got into (turn) one too hard and a little bit sideways, I am imagining that is where I made up my time,” he said. “Just getting in really deep and I think getting it under control before I got to the exit is probably where I made up the lap time. I don’t know though, it could be three and four. Who knows? But I felt like I got in deep, too deep for sure, but it worked out.“

    TrackHouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, who was fastest during practice, will start beside Larson on the front row after posting a lap at 116.883 mph. Denny Hamlin (116.485 mph) was third fastest in qualifying in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with Hendrick Motorsports drivers William Byron (116.470 mph) and Alex Bowman (116.384 mph) rounding out the top five starters.

    Martin Truex Jr. will begin the Federated Auto Parts 400 race in sixth followed by Cole Custer, Brad Keselowski, Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney to complete the top 10.

    With only three races remaining in the regular season, there have already been 15 different winners in the Cup Series. Two top contenders for the final spot in the Playoffs are Blaney and Truex, but neither driver has won this year. Blaney currently occupies the final place with a 19-point advantage over Truex. Truex, however, has three previous wins at Richmond.   

    Todd Gilliland, who was the fastest rookie in qualifying, will start in 16th place.

    The Federated Auto Parts 400 is set for Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on the USA Network with radio coverage on MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

    Starting Lineup:

  • Bubba Wallace claims first career Cup Series pole at Michigan

    Bubba Wallace claims first career Cup Series pole at Michigan

    Bubba Wallace soared to the top of the speed charts in this No. 23 Toyota Saturday afternoon with a 190.703 mph lap to capture the Busch Light Pole Award. It was his first career Cup Series pole and the first for 23XI Racing, now in its second year of competition in the NASCAR Cup Series.

    Wallace has three top-10 finishes in the last three races including a third at New Hampshire, an eighth at Pocono and a fifth last week at Indianapolis.

    “It’s awesome, proud of my team, Wallace said, “continuing to show up and battle and give it all we got.

    “We’ve been one of the best teams these last couple of weeks. I came over the radio after the first run and said, ‘It’s fun to have fun,’ and it’s pretty fun right now. Car feels great in race trim.”

    Toyotas were strong during the qualifying session, capturing five of the top-10 spots. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell qualified second, Kyle Busch was third, Martin Truex Jr. was seventh and Denny Hamlin was ninth quickest. Joey Logano and Austin Cindric will start fourth and fifth in their Fords for Team Penske.

    Logano felt like the team had made good adjustments but still has work to do.

    “We made up some time from practice, which was good. We made some solid adjustments to get our balance better. I’m not sure how much better we made our car, but we made our balance better, which is good. We’ll think a lot overnight to make the car better for race trim, so I’d say a successful day from where we were in practice and getting better for qualifying and having a top-five effort is nice, so we’ll fight from there.”

    Tyler Reddick was the fastest Chevrolet, qualifying sixth for Richard Childress Racing, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson was seventh and Erik Jones was 10th in the Petty GMS Motorsports Chevy.

    Tune in to watch the Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway Sunday, August 7 on USA Network and the NBC Sports App with radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

  • Tyler Reddick scores Cup Series pole for Indy Road Course

    Tyler Reddick scores Cup Series pole for Indy Road Course

    Tyler Reddick outpaced the field with a 99.378 mph lap during qualifying to win the Busch Light Pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Verizon 200 at The Brickyard.

    It is the second pole for the Richard Childress Racing driver in his third full year of completion in the Cup Series and his ninth top-five starting position this season.  

    “It certainly seemed like a pretty good lap,” Reddick said, “but definitely not a pole lap. So certainly right away we were hustling to cool the car down and cool the brakes down so we could re-run but it ended up being a good enough lap and it stood up against the nine other competitors.   

    “But yeah I definitely had a little bit of concern, missing it a little bit in turn four and just a little bit in the braking zone. Just glad it was a good enough lap. Certainly, you always try and run the perfect lap and we didn’t quite do that but it was good enough to win the pole.”

    Austin Cindric’s lap of 99.095 mph earned him the second starting position.

    “When you get beat for pole I guess you’d rather be a chunk slower than a little bit slower because I feel like there’s a little bit I could have done better,” Cindric said, “but not a chunk. I felt like our Ford Mustang was fast all day and I’m proud of that effort. We’re trying a few new things this weekend and I’m looking forward to seeing how they play out in the race.”

    Chase Briscoe ((98.962 mph), Christopher Bell (98.721 mph) and Joey Logano (98.476 mph) rounded out the top five fastest qualifiers followed by Ryan Blaney, Michael McDowell, Chase Elliott, Todd Gilliland and Kyle Busch to complete the top-10 starters for Sunday’s race.

    Team Penske drivers were strong in qualifying with Cindric, Logano and Blaney grabbing starting spots in the top six.

    “It’s a good start and hopefully we can continue that,” Logano said. “It’s always special to win here. When your boss owns the track it probably adds a little bit to that, but a top-five qualifying effort is nice and we’ll try to pick it up a little from there.”

    Notably, Elliott was the only Hendrick Motorsports driver in the top 10. His teammates Kyle Larson, William Byron and Alex Bowman will start 22nd, 23rd and 28th, respectively.

    Ty Gibbs will start 26th, filling in for the second consecutive race for Kurt Busch. Busch has not been medically cleared to race since his accident during qualifying at Pocono Raceway.

    Tune into Sunday’s Verizon 200 at The Brickyard at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC and the NBC Sports App with radio coverage on IMS Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

  • Denny Hamlin scores NASCAR Cup Series pole at Nashville

    Denny Hamlin scores NASCAR Cup Series pole at Nashville

    Denny Hamlin won the Busch Light Pole Award at Nashville Superspeedway Saturday afternoon after the final round of qualifying was canceled due to rain.

    He was fastest in Round 1 with a lap of 29.848 seconds at 160.413 mph in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Hamlin was awarded the pole, the 35th of his career, his second this season, and will lead the field to green for Sunday’s Ally 400.

    “It was a great run for us,” Hamlin said when addressing the media after qualifying. “We didn’t start off practice that stellar but with every run we made we just kept getting better and better. Obviously today, they tuned it up better than it was yesterday.”

    Team Penske’s Joey Logano will join Hamlin on the front row after a fast lap of 160.107 mph in his No. 22 Ford.

    “I really didn’t think I was that fast, that’s for sure,” he said. “Good changes, I guess, at least for qualifying, got the car doing the right things at least for one lap. We’ll see what that means later on, but we’ll take that and we’ll go from there.”

    Kyle Larson (159.963 mph), the defending race winner, and Chase Elliott (159.931 mph) will represent Hendrick Motorsports in Row 2. Daniel Suárez kept the momentum going after his first career Cup Series win at Sonoma Raceway on June 12, and will start fifth.

    Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, Kevin Harvick, Christopher Bell and Martin Truex Jr. round out the top 10 starters for Sunday’s race.

    Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch was unable to complete a qualifying run and will start last after spinning in Turn 3 and hitting the outside wall during Round 1.

    Starting Lineup:

    1. Denny Hamlin
    2. Joey Logano
    3. Kyle Larson
    4. Chase Elliott
    5. Daniel Suarez
    6. Ryan Blaney
    7. Ross Chastain
    8. Kevin Harvick
    9. Christopher Bell
    10. Martin Truex Jr.
    11. Aric Almirola
    12. Alex Bowman
    13. William Byron
    14. AJ Allmendinger
    15. Chase Buescher
    16. Tyler Reddick
    17. Cole Custer
    18. Michael McDowell
    19. Kurt Busch
    20. Austin Dillon
    21. Justin Haley
    22. Corey Lajoie
    23. Erik Jones
    24. Austin Cindric
    25. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
    26. Harrison Burton
    27. Brad Keselowski
    28. Chase Briscoe
    29. Ty Dillon
    30. Bubba Wallace
    31. Cody Ware
    32. JJ Yeley
    33. Todd Gilliland
    34. Josh Bilicki
    35. BJ McLeod
    36. Kyle Busch