It’s been a pretty quiet season thus far for Chase Briscoe and his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team, but as Summer approaches, it’s time for the Mitchell, Indiana-native to turn the heat up.
For the second time this season, and just the fourth time during his 156-race NASCAR Cup Series career, Briscoe will be taking the green flag as the race leader, winning the pole for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600.
The 30-year-old driver was able to lay down the quickest time overall in Saturday’s session, posting a 29.532-second lap (182.852mph) to secure the top spot around the 1.50-mile racetrack in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“The No. 19 car has been good here, right, and this is the first track I got to run a mile-and-a-half in this car, and we came and did the Goodyear tire test, and I was just able to learn things throughout the day,” Briscoe said. “I felt confident coming into this weekend, we’ve had speed all year long, I just haven’t been able to perform good enough on Saturday on my end to put us in position. ”
As a newcomer to Joe Gibbs Racing, Briscoe has been hitting home runs in qualifying for crown jewel events, winning the pole for February’s DAYTONA 500 before taking the top qualifying spot for the Coca-Cola 600.
It’s the first time since Jimmie Johnson in 2002 that a driver has captured the pole position in both the DAYTONA 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same year.
Kyle Larson will roll from second place in Sunday’s event at Charlotte Motor Speedway, provided he makes it back from Indianapolis in time for driver introductions.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver will be attempting ‘The Double’, in which he will run both the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same afternoon. Larson will start 19th in the Indy 500.
William Byron, Larson’s teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, will roll from third place in the longest NASCAR Cup Series event of the season, with Chris Buescher of RFK Racing and AJ Allmendinger of Kaulig Racing in fourth and fifth.
John Hunter Nemechek recorded his best NASCAR Cup Series start with LEGACY MOTOR CLUB in sixth, while Ty Gibbs, Noah Gragson, Alex Bowman, and Christopher Bell all earned positions inside the top-10.
Tyler Reddick looked to have a quick No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE in practice, but will roll from 12th in Sunday’s event after scrubbing the Turn 3 wall on his qualifying lap.
In the 17th, Jimmie Johnson, making his 700th NASCAR Cup Series start, recorded his best start in the seventh-generation racecar.
Other notable drivers starting outside the top-10 include Austin Cindric (14th), Joey Logano (16th), Josh Berry (18th), Denny Hamlin (20th), Ryan Blaney (21st), Chase Elliott (22nd), Bubba Wallace (32nd), and Brad Keselowski (35th).
Connor Zilisch, making his second NASCAR Cup Series start in the No. 87 Red Bull Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing, will start 33rd.
Reddick wasn’t the only driver to have issues in practice and qualifying, either.
Kyle Busch suffered steering issues during practice that didn’t allow the Richard Childress Racing driver to get on-track for a single practice lap. Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion, qualified 24th.
Ross Chastain suffered the only significant incident in practice, blowing a left-rear tire and crashing into the outside wall in Turn 4, which left his Trackhouse Racing entry with too much damage to qualify.
Finally, Carson Hocevar, the leader in NASCAR Cup Series practice, was running a fast lap in qualifying when he lost control in Turn 4, spinning his No. 77 Spire Motorsports entry off the final corner. Hocevar will start 39th.
