Kyle Larson wins third consecutive pole at Texas Motor Speedway
Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images
FORT WORTH, Texas — For the third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series race, Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson will lead the field to green – capturing the pole position Saturday afternoon for Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Texas Motor Speedway.
Larson, the last of the 10 Round 2 qualifiers to make a lap, turned in a pole effort of 190.369 mph in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, .003-second faster than Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs. It’s the 250th pole win for the venerable Hendrick team and marks the 13th different NASCAR Cup Series track where Larson has bested a qualifying session. It’s his 25th career pole overall.
“Great car for one, and cool to get three poles in a row and like I said on the radio, that’s about the most intense thing you can do or experience, it’s so on edge,’’ Larson said of qualifying on the always-challenging 1.5-mile Texas high banks. “You know how much throttle time you have to have to run fast. It’s just so sketchy.
“Yeah, that was cool. … just a great day and I’m really, really happy to get pole. Honestly since we’ve gone to the NextGen car this has been a place I’ve really struggled in qualifying, like committing into Turn one and I told myself I was going to commit today, and it paid off.’’
The qualifying outcome was not truly a surprise considering Larson and Gibbs had also been fastest in practice. Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion and current points leader, last won at Texas in his championship season. Gibbs, in his second-year of competition, is racing for his first victory in NASCAR’s elite level.
Gibb’s JGR teammate Christopher Bell was third fastest in the No. 20 JGR Toyota, followed by Tyler Reddick in the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe – his No. 14 Ford the fastest of three Fords that advanced to final qualifying.
The season’s three-race winner and the defending Texas winner, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron will roll off sixth followed by Team Penske’s Ford drivers Ryan Blaney – the reigning series champion – and his teammate Austin Cindric. JGR’s Martin Truex Jr. and last year’s pole-winner, 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace round out the top qualifiers.
Qualifying has always been important at Texas with 76 percent of the races won from a top 10 starting position.
Briscoe, Blaney and Cindric’s effort in time trials may be especially critical this week as Ford is still looking for its first victory of the 2024 season.
JGR’s Denny Hamlin will start 11th – giving all four of the team’s cars good starting position for Sunday’s race. He’ll line up next to Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, who is racing for his first victory of the season as well.
Two cars suffered damage in Group B practice – the track’s all-time winningest driver Kyle Busch, fresh off a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victory Friday night, spun his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevy exiting Turn 2 and bringing out a brief red flag.
Shortly after practice resumed, the NASCAR Cup Series race’s all-time winningest driver, Jimmie Johnson also had trouble negotiating Turn 2, his No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Chevy making heavy contact with the wall. The team pulled out a back-up for Sunday’s race – the NASCAR Hall of Famer Johnson’s second start of the season – but no decision had been made by the start of qualifying session if he would need to swap cars.
Neither Johnson nor Busch made a qualifying run and will start 37th and 34th, respectively. Johnson has won a series best seven NASCAR Cup Series races at the track and on Friday night, Busch’s win in the NASCAR CFAFTSMAN Truck Series gave him a combined 20 victories at Texas in NASCAR’s three premier series. He’s a four-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series race in Fort Worth.
“It is a bit different – there is no doubt,’’ the seven-time series champion Johnson conceded of the NextGen race car used in competition now. “I felt like we did a nice job trying to get me ready in the simulator. Unfortunately, I just got a little loose in turn one – I caught it – but it is such a narrow lane, that once I caught the car I was in the wall, and I was kind of along for the ride then.’’
NOTES
*The season’s winningest driver, Byron was asked about the difference in winning a NASCAR Cup Series championship now versus when the 48-year-old Johnson was competing fulltime from 2002-2020 and racked up seven season titles. The championship formats changed multiple times during Johnson’s tenure while the 26-year old Byron has only known the elimination-style path used today.
“I think the playoff points are a good thing, but I don’t know any different,’’ said Byron, a three-race winner this season. “I think it’s just the format and the nature of it is very intense. .. very stressful.
“But I think that’s what you want in sports, really. .. to have something really challenges everyone. So, I feel like the way it is brings out those dramatic moments. If I were a fan, that’s what I would like to see. As a competitor, you do have to take it with a grain of salt, knowing that really, it’s about Phoenix. So you’ve just got to prepare that way, know that’s the case and try to bring your best stuff then.’’
Starting Line Up by Row
Texas Motor Speedway
AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 4/13/2024 @ 12:22 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Greg Biffle 04/14/12 03:07:12 160.577
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 28.366 190.369
2 54 Ty Gibbs Interstate Batteries Toyota 28.401 190.134
Row 2: 3 20 Christopher Bell Rheem Toyota 28.417 190.027
4 45 Tyler Reddick The Beast Unleashed Toyota 28.450 189.807
Row 3: 5 14 Chase Briscoe Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford 28.458 189.753
6 24 William Byron Liberty University Chevrolet 28.464 189.713
Row 4: 7 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Knauf Insulation Ford 28.480 189.607
8 2 Austin Cindric Discount Tire Ford 28.482 189.593
Row 5: 9 19 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Toyota 28.528 189.288
10 23 Bubba Wallace Columbia Sportswear Company Toyota 28.682 188.271
Row 6: 11 11 Denny Hamlin Yahoo! Toyota 28.499 189.480
12 1 Ross Chastain Worldwide Express Chevrolet 28.542 189.195
Row 7: 13 34 Michael McDowell Love's/Fleetguard Ford 28.501 189.467
14 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 28.565 189.043
Row 8: 15 3 Austin Dillon Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 28.511 189.401
16 77 Carson Hocevar # Premier Security Chevrolet 28.572 188.996
Row 9: 17 99 Daniel Suarez Kubota Chevrolet 28.521 189.334
18 71 Zane Smith # Ambetter Health Chevrolet 28.634 188.587
Row 10: 19 17 Chris Buescher Fifth Third Bank Ford 28.522 189.328
20 22 Joey Logano AAA Insurance Ford 28.642 188.534
Row 11: 21 10 Noah Gragson Overstock.com Ford 28.549 189.148
22 6 Brad Keselowski BuildSubmarines.com Ford 28.728 187.970
Row 12: 23 7 Corey LaJoie Schluter Systems Chevrolet 28.653 188.462
24 9 Chase Elliott Hooters Chevrolet 28.742 187.878
Row 13: 25 4 Josh Berry # Miner DOCKS DOORS AND MORE Ford 28.679 188.291
26 41 Ryan Preece HaasTooling.com Ford 28.776 187.656
Row 14: 27 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 28.689 188.225
28 38 Todd Gilliland Long John Silver's Ford 28.867 187.065
Row 15: 29 21 Harrison Burton Freightliner Ford 28.739 187.898
30 42 John Hunter Nemechek Romco Equipment Co. Toyota 28.937 186.612
Row 16: 31 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Boost by Kroger/Blue Buffalo Chevrolet 28.775 187.663
32 51 Justin Haley Jacob Construction Ford 28.954 186.503
Row 17: 33 15 Kaz Grala # N29 Capital Partners Ford 28.916 186.748
34 33 Austin Hill(i) United Rentals Chevrolet 28.972 186.387
Row 18: 35 8 Kyle Busch zone Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
36 16 Ty Dillon(i) Sea Best Seafood Chevrolet 29.019 186.085
Row 19: 37 84 Jimmie Johnson AdventHealth Toyota 0.000 0.000
38 31 Daniel Hemric South Point Hotel and Casino Chevrolet 29.107 185.522
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 15 0 Ford 14 0
Toyota 9 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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