William Byron captured his fifth pole of the season in qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Bank of America 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.
Byron, who also won the pole for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in May, took the top spot with a time of 80.932 seconds (103.198 mph). He also topped the first round with a time of 80.901 seconds (103.237 mph).
“The guys did a great job with this car and it really takes every corner around this race track to get a pole,” Byron said. “I knew we could qualify top five, but I really wanted the pole and really kind of went out there and got it. So, I’m really proud of this UniFirst team, it’s going to be great to start up front.”
Alex Bowman will start second to give Hendrick Motorsports both top starting spots.
Byron has started from the front row for all three road course races this year.
Hendrick Motorsports has swept the front row the sixth time in 2019, including the last two road courses at Sonoma and Watkins Glen.
“You know, road courses were a big struggle for me when I first started racing and I’ve progressively gotten better and I really enjoy them now,” Byron said. “Now, it’s all about racing and it’s good to have two hometown poles – that’s pretty cool.”
Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson and Clint Bowyer rounded out the top five.
Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney and Paul Menard completed the first 10 qualifiers.
Larson, who was second fastest in the first session, had a good lap going in the final round but wheel hopped on the backstretch entering the chicane.
“We didn’t have much time to get in a second lap, but posted a decent time and got a good starting spot for Sunday,” Larson said.
Other Playoff drivers in Sunday’s field include Brad Keselowski (11th), Erik Jones (15th), Aric Almirola (16th), Kyle Busch (17th), Chase Elliott (19th), Kurt Busch (23rd), Ryan Newman (24th) and Denny Hamlin (28th).
Hamlin crashed his primary car in practice on Friday and will start Sunday’s race from the rear of the field.
Teams will have time to practice on Saturday to dial in their cars for Sunday’s last race of the first round in the Playoffs.
