Blaney speeds to Bristol pole
Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
BRISTOL, Tenn. — The vagaries of the concrete surface at Bristol Motor Speedway shocked the NASCAR Cup Series drivers during Saturday’s time trials, but Ryan Blaney was best able to deal with the changes between rounds.
The reigning series champion navigated the 0.533-mile short track in 15.356 seconds (124.954 mph) in the second round of qualifying to claim the pole position for Sunday’s Food City 500 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“The track kind of caught everybody by surprise,” said Blaney, who earned his first Busch Light Pole Award since April 2022 at Richmond, his first at Bristol and the 10th of his career.
“The time fall-off and the grip loss behind the wheel was incredible. It was like ‘Who can not mess up a lap and still put a decent time down?’ Great to get our first pole of the year, and ready to go tomorrow.”
Blaney’s Team Penske Ford was 0.020 seconds faster than the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Mustang of second-place qualifier Josh Berry (124.792 mph). Toyota driver Denny Hamlin was third fastest at 124.178 mph.
Team Penske’s Joey Logano qualified fourth, giving Ford drivers three of the top four starting spots. Chase Elliott was fifth in the fastest Chevrolet.
Blaney ran the fastest lap of the day in the first round (15.134 second) and opted not to try a second lap in the opening session. That strategy paid off, given the dramatic fall-off most drivers experienced in the money round.
“I think that was a big advantage for us,” said Blaney, who leads the series standings after finishing second, third and fifth in his last three races. “We got the good fortune of going out last in our group, so I could bail after one lap if we were in…
“A lot of teams and drivers, us included, are going to be really scratching our heads tonight, like, ‘What’s the track going to do tomorrow?’”
Chase Briscoe, who tied Hamlin for the second fastest overall lap in Round 1 at 126.528 mph (15.165 seconds), will start sixth on Sunday, followed by Michael McDowell, William Byron, Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson.
Hamlin is the most recent winner at Bristol, having taken the checkered flag in last year’s Night Race.
Starting Line Up by Row
Bristol Motor Speedway
Food City 500
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 3/16/2024 @ 07:15 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Charlie Glotzbach 07/11/71 2:38:12 101.074
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Dutch Boy Ford 15.356 124.954
2 4 Josh Berry # SunnyD Ford 15.376 124.792
Row 2: 3 11 Denny Hamlin Express Oil Change Toyota 15.452 124.178
4 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 15.506 123.746
Row 3: 5 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 15.615 122.882
6 14 Chase Briscoe Mahindra Tractors Ford 15.618 122.858
Row 4: 7 34 Michael McDowell Love's Travel Stops Ford 15.714 122.108
8 24 William Byron Liberty University Chevrolet 15.771 121.666
Row 5: 9 23 Bubba Wallace Leidos Toyota 15.778 121.612
10 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 16.743 114.603
Row 6: 11 19 Martin Truex Jr. Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota 15.335 125.126
12 20 Christopher Bell DEWALT Toyota 15.414 124.484
Row 7: 13 21 Harrison Burton DEX Imaging Ford 15.353 124.979
14 8 Kyle Busch FICO Chevrolet 15.437 124.299
Row 8: 15 43 Erik Jones AdventHealth Toyota 15.359 124.930
16 71 Zane Smith # Focused Health Chevrolet 15.490 123.873
Row 9: 17 6 Brad Keselowski King's Hawaiian Ford 15.382 124.743
18 7 Corey LaJoie Gainbridge Chevrolet 15.496 123.826
Row 10: 19 54 Ty Gibbs SiriusXM Toyota 15.399 124.605
20 31 Daniel Hemric Cirkul Chevrolet 15.575 123.197
Row 11: 21 2 Austin Cindric Discount Tire Ford 15.422 124.420
22 10 Noah Gragson Black Rifle Coffee/Ranger Boats Ford 15.586 123.110
Row 12: 23 45 Tyler Reddick Monster Energy Toyota 15.468 124.050
24 38 Todd Gilliland CITGARD Ford 15.645 122.646
Row 13: 25 41 Ryan Preece HaasTooling.com Ford 15.474 124.002
26 42 John Hunter Nemechek Dollar Tree Toyota 15.663 122.505
Row 14: 27 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ball Park Buns & Rolls Chevrolet 15.488 123.889
28 99 Daniel Suarez Jockey Outdoors by Luke Bryan Chevrolet 15.756 121.782
Row 15: 29 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 15.505 123.754
30 16 AJ Allmendinger(i) Mountain Dew/Doritos Chevrolet 15.848 121.075
Row 16: 31 3 Austin Dillon BREZTRI Chevrolet 15.534 123.523
32 51 Justin Haley Ohanafy Ford 15.916 120.558
Row 17: 33 15 Kaz Grala # N29 Capital Partners Ford 15.694 122.263
34 17 Chris Buescher BuildSubmarines.com Ford 16.078 119.343
Row 18: 35 77 Carson Hocevar # Gainbridge Cal Ripken Sr. Fdn. Chevrolet 15.846 121.090
36 1 Ross Chastain Busch Light Fishing Chevrolet 16.096 119.210
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 14 0 Ford 14 0
Toyota 8 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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