Chase Elliott took the pole for Sunday’s Fan Shield 500 at Phoenix Raceway with a lap of 138.116 mph, which equates to 26.065 sec.
Elliott’s lap, which secured his first pole of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season, and ninth of his career, was just 0.045 sec. faster than Kevin Harvick, who will start from second.
According to Elliott, it was Harvick’s lap that inspired many of the fast laps in the session.
“The line through turns 1 and 2 was a lot different,” said Elliott. “Kevin [Harvick] kind of made the top line work and then when I think after that, everyone saw that and moved up. So, it’s great to get a pole. We’re in a little bit different colors this week with Unifirst on our Camaro. So, I’m excited to grab them a pole. It’s always a good thing when you can put down a fast lap.”
The Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet teams continue to show improvement in 2020, as Elliott has secured three Stage wins in 2020 in addition to Saturday’s pole and Alex Bowman won a week ago at Auto Club Speedway.
Elliott has a career-best finish at Phoenix of second, which came in the fall of 2017. Harvick is a nine-time winner — most all-time — at the track.
Coming to the green behind Elliott and Harvick on Sunday will be Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney — who announced a contract extension with Team Penske this week — rounds out the top-five in qualifying.
