DARLINGTON, S.C. – A strong qualifying effort Saturday afternoon at Darlington Raceway saw three Hendrick Motorsports teammates advance to the final round of the session.
On the strength of top-five qualifying times in Round 1, all four teammates advanced to the second round of the qualifying session. Three Hendrick Motorsports drivers – Alex Bowman, William Byron and Chase Elliott made it to the final round.
After recording the fastest time in the 10-minute second round to advance to the final round, Bowman will lead his teammates to the green flag Sunday evening, starting the race inside the top five in fourth.
Byron and Elliott will be the next teammates to the green flag, rolling off the grid in 10th and 11th, respectively.
Byron becomes the fourth rookie to start inside the top-10 at Darlington for Hendrick Motorsports.
Jimmie Johnson qualified 20th after advancing to Round 2 of the session.
Johnson will start at the rear of the field, however, due to unapproved adjustments following damage from contact with the wall during qualifying.
Denny Hamlin won the pole.
Sunday’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.