Chase Elliott took the top spot for Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Elliott won his fifth career pole with a lap of 14.568 seconds, 131.713 mph around the .533-mile short track in the third and final round.
William Byron will start in the number two position making it an all Hendrick Motorsports front row for the second straight race. Last week at Texas Motor Speedway, Jimmie Johnson and Byron qualified in the first row.
“It’s awesome,” Elliott said. “I’ve really been wanting a pole outside of Daytona and Talladega for a long time now. So, I feel like I was finally able to contribute from my end a little bit more and get a pole that my team certainly deserves. We’ve got a fast NAPA Chevy.
“I appreciate everybody’s efforts at Hendrick Motorsports and the engine department and the chassis shop and everybody back home. They’ve been working really hard to try to get better and this is a big deal. We have some work to do, I think, for 500 laps that’s a long time.”
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Ryan Blaney, who qualified third, set a new track record with a lap of 14.528 seconds, 132.076 mph in the second round.
“I got greedy into three and missed it,” Blaney said. “We lost it by just a little bit for how bad I missed it, so just greedy. I ran one lap in every round, but messed up so bad the first lap in the last round that I had to run more and it just wasn’t as good.”
Erik Jones and previous track record holder Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five.
The average age of the top four is 23 years, 2 months, 15 days, the youngest known first four starting positions in series history.
Aric Almirola, Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard and Johnson completed the first 10 qualifiers.
A number of top drivers weren’t able to progress through the early qualifying sessions and will start the race from deep in the field. Those drivers include Kurt Busch (27th), Martin Truex Jr. (23rd). Kyle Busch (17th) and Kyle Larson (16th). Many were frustrated with the use of the PJ1 traction compound and where it was applied around the track.
“No one has learned anything all day,” Truex Jr. said about the day’s practice and qualifying sessions.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams will have a pair of practice sessions on Saturday to dial in their cars for Sunday’s race.
