Chase Briscoe wins third straight Crown Jewel pole at Indy oval
SPEEDWAY, Ind.—Five was the magic number for Toyota at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session for Sunday’s Brickyard 400 presented by PPG (2 p.m. ET on TNT, IMS Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
First and foremost, Indiana native Chase Briscoe won his fifth pole of the season with a lap at 183.165 mph (49.136 seconds), edging Bubba Wallace of 23XI Racing (183.117 mph) for the top starting spot by 0.013 seconds.
Briscoe, driving the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Camry, and Wallace led a Toyota sweep of the first five starting positions, the first time the car maker has claimed the top five spots for any Cup Series race at any track.
Erik Jones of LEGACY Motor Club qualified third at 182.749 mph, followed by Tyler Reddick (182.678 mph) and Ty Gibbs (182.445 mph).
William Byron (182.031 mph) was sixth in the fastest Chevrolet, and seventh-place starter Chris Buescher led the Ford contingent with a lap at 182.013 mph.
In Sunday’s race, Briscoe will start from the front row for the seventh time this season, having been second on the grid for the previous two races, at Sonoma and Dover. Briscoe has claimed the Busch Light Pole Award for all three Crown Jewel races this season—the DAYTONA 500, Coca-Cola 600 and now the Brickyard 400.
For a driver who spent his childhood as a spectator at Indianapolis, the pole is a dream fulfilled.
“I thought I was going to lose it a couple times, but I was able to hold onto it,” Biscoe said of his edgy qualifying lap. “I’m holding back tears. This is such a special moment for me. Even hearing the crowd as I got the pole is just super cool.
“Hopefully, I can keep it up there (Sunday). That’s the one that we want to win… Just being from literally 70 miles down the road (in Mitchell, Indiana) and coming here as a kid… and just dreaming of being able to come to this place, sitting in the same grandstands as the fans are, I dreamed of being on the other side of the fence, and now to do that is just unbelievable.”
The seventh pole of Briscoe’s career wasn’t secure, however, until his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Denny Hamlin (the final qualifier) caromed off the Safer barrier in Turn 2 and nosed into the inside wall, destroying his No. 11 Camry.
Hamlin had an edge of more than 0.2 seconds over Briscoe through the first corner before his car stepped out in the second turn at the 2.5-mile track. Hamlin will start at the rear in a backup car on Sunday.
Gibbs will start 21positions ahead of Ty Dillon as the two drivers battle for the $1-million top prize in the In-Season Challenge. The higher finisher will take home the check.
Series leader Chase Elliott made an adroit save in Turn 2 on his qualifying lap but lost time in the corner and will start 30th. Elliott has a 16-point lead over Byron with five races left in the regular season.
Wallace, the last driver above the current elimination line for the Cup Series Playoffs, will start Sunday’s race with a 16-point edge over Ryan Preece, who qualified 23rd.
Carson Hocevar, AJ Allmendinger and Austin Cindric completed the top 10 on the grid.
NASCAR Cup Series
Starting Line Up by Row
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Brickyard 400
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 7/26/2025 @ 03:43 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Bobby Labonte 08/05/00 2:33:56 155.912
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 19 Chase Briscoe Bass Pro Shops Toyota 49.136 183.165
2 23 Bubba Wallace Chumba Casino Toyota 49.149 183.117
Row 2: 3 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 49.248 182.749
4 45 Tyler Reddick Xfinity Mobile Toyota 49.267 182.678
Row 3: 5 54 Ty Gibbs SAIA LTL Freight Toyota 49.330 182.445
6 24 William Byron Liberty University Chevrolet 49.442 182.031
Row 4: 7 17 Chris Buescher Kroger/Diet Cherry Coke Ford 49.447 182.013
8 77 Carson Hocevar Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet 49.495 181.837
Row 5: 9 16 AJ Allmendinger Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet 49.499 181.822
10 2 Austin Cindric Discount Tire Ford 49.586 181.503
Row 6: 11 88 Shane Van Gisbergen # WeatherTech Chevrolet 49.591 181.485
12 8 Kyle Busch zone Chevrolet 49.595 181.470
Row 7: 13 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Hendrick 1100 Chevrolet 49.617 181.389
14 6 Brad Keselowski Body Guard Ford 49.629 181.346
Row 8: 15 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 49.693 181.112
16 20 Christopher Bell Rheem Toyota 49.795 180.741
Row 9: 17 21 Josh Berry PPG Ford 49.830 180.614
18 4 Noah Gragson Rush Truck Centers Ford 49.894 180.382
Row 10: 19 34 Todd Gilliland gener8tor Ford 49.941 180.213
20 3 Austin Dillon Get Bioethanol Chevrolet 49.949 180.184
Row 11: 21 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 49.967 180.119
22 71 Michael McDowell Delaware Life Chevrolet 49.974 180.094
Row 12: 23 60 Ryan Preece Castrol The Engine Ford 49.979 180.076
24 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Delta Ford 49.992 180.029
Row 13: 25 35 Riley Herbst # Monster Energy Toyota 50.012 179.957
26 10 Ty Dillon Sea Best Chevrolet 50.051 179.817
Row 14: 27 38 Zane Smith Aaron's Rent To Own Ford 50.061 179.781
28 7 Justin Haley Gainbridge/TED Sports Indy Chevrolet 50.067 179.759
Row 15: 29 41 Cole Custer Haas/Autodesk Ford 50.088 179.684
30 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 50.114 179.591
Row 16: 31 99 Daniel Suarez Freeway Insurance Chevrolet 50.201 179.279
32 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Rate Chevrolet 50.310 178.891
Row 17: 33 1 Ross Chastain Busch Light Lime Chevrolet 50.333 178.809
34 51 Cody Ware Arby's Ford 50.588 177.908
Row 18: 35 62 Jesse Love(i) C4 Ultimate Energy Chevrolet 50.801 177.162
36 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 50.989 176.509
Row 19: 37 66 Josh Bilicki(i) Sherfick Companies Ford 54.565 164.941
38 78 Katherine Legge Droplight Chevrolet 56.963 157.997
Row 20: 39 11 Denny Hamlin Progressive Toyota 0.000 0.000
Did Not Qualify: None.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 17 0 Ford 13 0
Toyota 9 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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