CONCORD, N.C. – William Byron and Alex Bowman aren’t yet in the All-Star Race field, but they’ll have an opportunity to race their way in during Saturday evening’s Open.
Friday, both teammates qualified for their starting spots for the event.
Byron and Bowman advanced to the second and final round of the qualifying session, and both will start the Open inside the top six.
Byron qualified third and Bowman qualified sixth.
Daniel Hemric will start on the pole for the Open.
Byron is looking to capitalize on the strong starting position and win the opening stage of Saturday evening’s race to join the main event, just as his teammate Bowman did last season.
“If we can hopefully have a good first 20 laps of this Open, we can advance through and get to the All-Star Race, which is obviously the ultimate goal,” he said.
The Open is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET on Saturday and will be broadcast on FOX Sports 1.