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.
“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.”
A monster lap for @KyleLarsonRacin, who puts it on the pole!
RETWEET if you think he’ll win his first @NASCAR championship tomorrow. #Championship4 pic.twitter.com/suDu28TBpe
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) November 6, 2021
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 |