LONG POND, Pa. – For the third time in 2023, William Byron will start from pole position in the NASCAR Cup Series. The achievement is the 11th time that the driver of the No. 24 RaptorTough.com Chevy has qualified on pole, this time with a lap of 52.746 seconds at Pocono Raceway.
"This week showing up with the pace that we had off the truck was really impressive," Byron said. "It shows that our tools are working correctly because right now it’s really all about unloading with the right setup and the right feel. So for us, our balance was really close. We had potential – we had lap time that we could go out and get. So, I think that’s a really good sign and we just have to keep pushing. Those guys have been strong, really strong at a lot of the tracks. It’s nice to see though that we can take a few punches for a few weeks and come back with this performance."
"The Tricky Triangle" has been a successful track for the Charlotte, North Carolina, native so far. In his last four starts at the Pennsylvania facility, he owns an average finish of 8.50 (third-best among the field for Sunday's race). In 2019, Byron also started from the point at Pocono, making this the first track where he’s earned multiple pole positions.
Kyle Larson also earned his way into the second round of qualifying. After a strong showing in practice, the driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 briefly took provisional pole before Byron returned to the track. He’ll roll off third in tomorrow’s race.
Starting in the 20th spot will be Alex Bowman and the No. 48 Ally Racing team as they look to gain on the cutline with the playoffs drawing near. With six races remaining, Bowman sits 42 markers below the projected mark of making the Cup Series playoffs on points. He won at the 2.5-mile track in June 2021.
Chase Elliott will roll off 35th. The driver of the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts entry lost control of the race car through turn two during his qualifying lap, resulting in a spin. Thankfully, the Dawsonville, Georgia, native was able to stay off the wall during the incident. He enters this race as the defending race winner.
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For practice, it was Byron leading the way for Rick Hendrick’s team as well. His lap time of 53.445 seconds was the third quickest. Larson (fourth), Elliott (eighth) and Bowman (10th) all ran lap times within the top-10 spots. Byron had the best 10-lap consecutive average for practice.
Catch all the action in tomorrow’s main event on Sunday, July 23, at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).
