NASCAR: Kyle Larson wins Cup pole in Phoenix

Championship 4 driver Kyle Larson will lead the field to the green flag for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series finale at Phoenix Raceway (3 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App/Peacock, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The entire Cup Series field took part in a single-car, two-lap qualifying session on Saturday evening at the 1-mile Arizona oval. Larson laid down a lap of 26.116 seconds at 137.847 miles per hour in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Fellow Championship 4 driver and teammate Chase Elliott will start on the outside front row with a lap of 26.289 seconds at 136.939 mph in the No. 9 Chevrolet.

Crew members work on the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, driven by Kyle Larson in the garage area during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 06, 2021 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

“It was nice to go out second-to-last and have a benchmark to shoot for, ” Larson told NBC Sports after his pole-winning qualifying run. “… Really good to get a pole and help out pit stall selection, so that’s nice.  It’ll be good to go from pit stop No. 1. Really happy with our Hendrickcars.com Chevy. It was really weird having practice yesterday.  I think all of our confidence was probably less after it. So good to come here and get a pole and, you know, get the weekend started off on the right foot. Still a long day tomorrow and the track will go through a big change. It already looks different that what I’m familiar with. We’ll see how it goes.”

The other two Championship 4 drivers, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr., will start a tad farther back for Sunday’s season finale. Hamlin will start sixth after a lap of 26.361 seconds at 136.565 mph in the No. 11 Toyota, while Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. will start from 12th after a lap of 26.494 seconds at 135.88 mph in the No. 19 Toyota.

The Championship 4 teams will pick pit stalls first for Sunday, followed by the order the rest of the field qualified afterward. Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron will start third, followed by Ryan Blaney and Kurt Busch.

Stewart-Haas Racing driver Cole Custer will start seventh, followed by Christopher Bell, Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano to round out the top 10.

The teams of Larson, Hamlin and Truex Jr. all had their car chiefs ejected after failing technical inspection twice prior to qualifying. All three Championship 4 drivers will still be able to start from the positions where they qualified. Elliott’s No. 9 passed on its first time though.

Qualifying Results

Pos No. Driver Team Time Speed
1 5 Kyle Larson (P) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 26.116 137.847
2 9 Chase Elliott (P) NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 26.289 136.939
3 24 William Byron Raptor Chevrolet 26.307 136.846
4 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Jack Links Ford 26.315 136.804
5 1 Kurt Busch Monster Energy Chevrolet 26.327 136.742
6 11 Denny Hamlin (P) FedEx Express Toyota 26.361 136.565
7 41 Cole Custer HaasTooling.com Ford 26.432 136.199
8 20 Christopher Bell DEWALT Toyota 26.433 136.193
9 4 Kevin Harvick Busch Light #BuschPitBoss Ford 26.434 136.188
10 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 26.436 136.178
11 2 Brad Keselowski Discount Tire Ford 26.469 136.008
12 19 Martin Truex Jr. (P) Bass Pro Shops Toyota 26.494 135.88
13 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Toyota 26.502 135.839
14 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 26.544 135.624
15 21 Matt DiBenedetto Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford 26.544 135.624
16 42 Ross Chastain Clover Chevrolet 26.544 135.624
17 99 Daniel Suarez Good Sam Chevrolet 26.558 135.552
18 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 26.568 135.501
19 6 Ryan Newman Castrol GTX Full Synthetic Ford 26.576 135.461
20 8 Tyler Reddick BetMGM Chevrolet 26.592 135.379
21 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Honey Nut Cheerios Chevrolet 26.594 135.369
22 14 Chase Briscoe # HighPoint.com Ford 26.623 135.221
23 3 Austin Dillon Dow Coatings Chevrolet 26.649 135.089
24 7 Corey LaJoie Schluter Systems Chevrolet 26.652 135.074
25 23 Bubba Wallace Door Dash Toyota 26.665 135.008
26 17 Chris Buescher Fastenal Ford 26.683 134.917
27 43 Erik Jones Rellevate Chevrolet 26.722 134.72
28 34 Michael McDowell Love’s Travel Stops Ford 26.811 134.273
29 77 Justin Haley(i) Peacock – Streaming Now Chevrolet 26.812 134.268
30 38 Anthony Alfredo # Boot Barn Ford 26.906 133.799
31 37 Ryan Preece Kroger Chevrolet 26.921 133.725
32 78 BJ McLeod(i) Pala Casino Ford 27.181 132.445
33 51 Cody Ware(i) Nurtec ODT Chevrolet 27.56 130.624
34 53 Joey Gase(i) DonateLife Chevrolet 27.716 129.889
35 0 Quin Houff CREEK Enterprises Inc. Chevrolet 27.861 129.213
36 13 David Starr(i) Bob Menery Ripper Magoo Toyota 27.874 129.153
37 52 Josh Bilicki(i) Boom Ford 27.887 129.092
38 15 Garrett Smithley(i) Carpets of Arizona Chevrolet 28.243 127.465
39 66 Timmy Hill(i) Coble Enterprises/Darn Transport Toyota 0 0