Kyle Larson claims pole position for inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa
Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images
NEWTON, Ia. — Kyle Larson was hoping for a rainout of Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Iowa Speedway.
His wish wasn’t granted, but in the end, it didn’t matter. Larson will start from the front of the field in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol, the inaugural Cup race at Iowa Speedway (7 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Under the metric qualifying system, a canceled session would have put Larson, last Sunday’s winner at Sonoma Raceway, on the pole for the debut race. Instead, the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet had to earn his fourth Busch Light Pole Award of the season and the 20th of his career.
The last driver to make a qualifying run, Larson covered the 0.875-mile distance in 23.084 seconds (136.458 mph), edging Ryan Blaney (136.311 mph) for the top
starting spot by 0.025 seconds.
“It was challenging, but it wasn’t as challenging as I thought it would be,” said Larson, who had the benefit of watching 35 other drivers make attempts ahead of him. “It helps going out last. It helps being able to watch everybody.
“But I was hoping for rain.”
Blaney felt he left some speed on the table during his two-lap run.
“I wish I could have picked up on the second lap a little more,” said the reigning series champion, who added that he missed Turns 3 and 4 slightly on his second circuit.
With the qualifying session delayed for 45 minutes because of track-drying efforts from a storm that blew through during lunchtime, drivers ran only one round, with the top five drivers from Group A and the top five from Group B making up the top 10 starting positions.
The Group B drivers ran second and had a clear advantage, with all of the top five starting positions going to drivers from that group. Josh Berry (135.916 mph) will start third, followed by William Byron (135.595 mph) and Brad Keselowski (135.338 mph).
Chase Briscoe led Group A at 133.046 mph and will start sixth, followed by Kyle Busch, Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell (though Bell will drop to the rear in a backup car after crashing in Friday’s practice).
The remainder of the field is ordered by group in alternating numbers. Joey Logano, sixth in Group B, starts 11th beside Denny Hamlin, sixth fastest in Group A.
Starting Line Up by Row
Iowa Speedway
Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 6/15/2024 @ 03:28 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: 01/01/01 0
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 23.084 136.458
2 12 Ryan Blaney Advance Auto Parts Ford 23.109 136.311
Row 2: 3 4 Josh Berry # Overstock.com Ford 23.176 135.916
4 24 William Byron Liberty University Chevrolet 23.231 135.595
Row 3: 5 6 Brad Keselowski King's Hawaiian/Casey's Ford 23.275 135.338
6 14 Chase Briscoe Mahindra USA 30 Years Ford 23.676 133.046
Row 4: 7 8 Kyle Busch zone/Kwik Trip Chevrolet 23.697 132.928
8 45 Tyler Reddick McDonald's Toyota 23.707 132.872
Row 5: 9 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 23.749 132.637
10 20 Christopher Bell Rheem Toyota 23.884 131.887
Row 6: 11 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 23.281 135.303
12 11 Denny Hamlin Interstate Batteries Toyota 23.896 131.821
Row 7: 13 99 Daniel Suarez Worldwide Express Chevrolet 23.286 135.274
14 38 Todd Gilliland Ruedebusch Ford 23.909 131.750
Row 8: 15 17 Chris Buescher Fastenal Ford 23.358 134.857
16 23 Bubba Wallace McDonald's Toyota 23.984 131.338
Row 9: 17 1 Ross Chastain Busch Light For The Farmers Chevrolet 23.412 134.546
18 16 AJ Allmendinger(i) Action Industries Chevrolet 24.035 131.059
Row 10: 19 51 Justin Haley MotoRad Ford 23.475 134.185
20 77 Carson Hocevar # Premier Security Chevrolet 24.037 131.048
Row 11: 21 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Moen Ford 23.500 134.043
22 34 Michael McDowell Love's Travel Stops Ford 24.041 131.026
Row 12: 23 10 Noah Gragson Bass Pro Shops Winchester Ford 23.534 133.849
24 7 Corey LaJoie Gainbridge/Iowa Hawkeyes Chevrolet 24.130 130.543
Row 13: 25 21 Harrison Burton Menards/MasterForce Tools Ford 23.571 133.639
26 71 Zane Smith # Focused Health Chevrolet 24.211 130.106
Row 14: 27 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 23.599 133.480
28 15 Kaz Grala # Remixers.com/Xemex Ford 24.314 129.555
Row 15: 29 41 Ryan Preece Morton Buildings Ford 23.663 133.119
30 31 Daniel Hemric Cirkul Chevrolet 24.332 129.459
Row 16: 31 19 Martin Truex Jr. Reser's Fine Foods Toyota 23.698 132.923
32 43 Erik Jones Family Dollar Toyota 24.522 128.456
Row 17: 33 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 23.716 132.822
34 42 John Hunter Nemechek Dollar Tree Toyota 24.628 127.903
Row 18: 35 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Kroger/NOS Energy Drink Chevrolet 23.988 131.316
36 3 Austin Dillon Get Bioethanol Chevrolet 24.891 126.552
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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