Ty Gibbs scores first career NASCAR Cup pole in Coca-Cola 600 qualifying
Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images)
CONCORD, N.C. — Ty Gibbs saved the strongest performance of the day for the money lap in time trials for the Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Streaking around 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway in the final round of Saturday’s qualifying session for NASCAR’s longest race, Gibbs covered the distance in 29.355 seconds (183.955 mph) to claim the first Busch Light Pole Award of his career.
Gibbs edged William Byron (183.580 mph) by 0.060 seconds to become the second youngest Coca-Cola 600 pole winner at 21 years old. Byron was roughly a month younger than Gibbs is now when he won the pole for the Memorial Day weekend race at age 21 in 2019.
“I’m really excited for it,” said Gibbs who a day earlier won the pole for Saturday’s BetMGM 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race. “And hopefully I can go out there and get my first win tomorrow.
“It really helps to start up front in clean air — it’s really nice. And having that first pit stall as well is great also.”
Two of Gibbs’ Joe Gibbs Racing teammates qualified third and fourth, respectively, behind Byron — Christopher Bell (183.461 mph) and Martin Truex Jr. (182.871 mph). Truex had the fastest lap in the opening round at 182.902 mph but couldn’t improve in the second round.
Gibbs, on the other hand, cut 0.266 seconds off his first-round time when the pole was at stake.
Byron had three teammates in the top 10 — Chase Elliott (fifth fastest), Alex Bowman (sixth) and Kyle Larson (10th). Larson planned to leave for Indianapolis after Charlotte time trials in anticipation of running the Indianapolis 500/Coca-Cola 600 double.
Larson was fifth fastest in Indy 500 qualifying last Sunday.
Ross Chastain was seventh fastest in Coke 600 qualifying, followed by Tyler Reddick, Michael McDowell (the only Ford to make the final round) and Larson.
Reddick, however, will not start in the spot he earned. His 23XI Racing team made unapproved adjustments to the underwing of the No. 45 Toyota after passing pre-race inspection.
NASCAR penalized the team with the ejection of car chief Michael Hobson, loss of pit selection and a pass-through penalty after starting from the rear of the field on Sunday.
Reddick still had to qualify so as not to have a tire advantage in the race. All cars must start the event on their scuffed qualifying tires.
Starting Line Up by Row
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Coca-Cola 600
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 5/25/2024 @ 07:21 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Jeff Gordon 05/19/01 00:34:03 185.022
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy/Interstate Batteries Toyota 29.355 183.955
2 24 William Byron Liberty University Patriotic Chevrolet 29.415 183.580
Row 2: 3 20 Christopher Bell Rheem Toyota 29.434 183.461
4 19 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Toyota 29.529 182.871
Row 3: 5 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Patriotic Chevrolet 29.556 182.704
6 48 Alex Bowman Ally Patriotic Chevrolet 29.569 182.624
Row 4: 7 1 Ross Chastain Jockey x Folds of Honor Chevrolet 29.624 182.285
8 45 Tyler Reddick The Beast Unleashed Toyota 29.648 182.137
Row 5: 9 34 Michael McDowell Walmart/RTIC Ford 29.689 181.886
10 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com H1100 Chevrolet 29.719 181.702
Row 6: 11 11 Denny Hamlin Mavis Tire Toyota 29.746 181.537
12 23 Bubba Wallace MoneyLion Toyota 29.861 180.838
Row 7: 13 4 Josh Berry # Overstock.com Ford 29.749 181.519
14 99 Daniel Suarez Freeway Insurance Chevrolet 29.872 180.771
Row 8: 15 8 Kyle Busch zone Chevrolet 29.756 181.476
16 12 Ryan Blaney BodyArmor Flash I.V. Ford 29.912 180.530
Row 9: 17 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Duracell Ford 29.831 181.020
18 14 Chase Briscoe Mahindra Compact Tractors Ford 29.987 180.078
Row 10: 19 10 Noah Gragson Bass Pro Shops Winchester Ford 29.877 180.741
20 77 Carson Hocevar # Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet 30.024 179.856
Row 11: 21 7 Corey LaJoie Chili's Catch-a-Rita Chevrolet 29.885 180.693
22 51 Justin Haley The Cleaning Authority Ford 30.034 179.796
Row 12: 23 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Kroger/Irish Spring Chevrolet 29.902 180.590
24 31 Daniel Hemric Cirkul Chevrolet 30.042 179.748
Row 13: 25 71 Zane Smith # Focused Health Chevrolet 29.928 180.433
26 42 John Hunter Nemechek Dollar Tree Toyota 30.058 179.653
Row 14: 27 3 Austin Dillon Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 29.960 180.240
28 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 30.101 179.396
Row 15: 29 84 Jimmie Johnson AdventHealth Toyota 30.048 179.712
30 6 Brad Keselowski BuildSubmarines.com Ford 30.126 179.247
Row 16: 31 41 Ryan Preece HaasTooling.com Ford 30.127 179.241
32 21 Harrison Burton DEX Imaging Ford 30.175 178.956
Row 17: 33 15 Kaz Grala # N29 Ford 30.176 178.950
34 43 Erik Jones Family Dollar Toyota 30.295 178.247
Row 18: 35 38 Todd Gilliland Quincy Compressor Ford 30.374 177.784
36 16 Shane Van Gisbergen(i) WeatherTech Chevrolet 30.473 177.206
Row 19: 37 66 BJ McLeod(i) Truan Equipment Ford 30.484 177.142
38 50 Ty Dillon(i) AmeriVet Securities Chevrolet 30.624 176.332
Row 20: 39 17 Chris Buescher Fastenal Ford 0.000 0.000
40 44 JJ Yeley(i) Beard Vet Coffee Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 16 0 Ford 15 0
Toyota 9 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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