Ryan Blaney rocketed to the pole position in what amounted to a sweep of the front row for Team Penske in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Phoenix Raceway. Blaney turned a lap time of 26.250 seconds (137.143 mph) in the session to secure the pole for Sunday’s Freeway Insurance 500 by a margin of 0.032 seconds.
Joey Logano, Blaney’s Team Penske teammate, will start from the outside of the front row.
Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin, and Christopher Bell rounded out the top-five qualifiers in the session, while Kyle Larson, the point leader, missed his marks and could only muster the 22nd starting spot for Sunday’s race.
Official Freeway Insurance 500 Starting Lineup
| Pos | Car | Driver | Team | Make | B. Time | Diff | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | Ryan Blaney (C) | Team Penske | Ford | 26.250 | 0.000 | 137.143 |
| 2 | 22 | Joey Logano (C) | Team Penske | Ford | 26.282 | 0.032 | 136.976 |
| 3 | 19 | Chase Briscoe (C) | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 26.311 | 0.061 | 136.825 |
| 4 | 11 | Denny Hamlin (C) | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 26.314 | 0.064 | 136.809 |
| 5 | 20 | Christopher Bell (C) | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 26.351 | 0.101 | 136.617 |
| 6 | 45 | Tyler Reddick (C) | 23XI Racing | Toyota | 26.398 | 0.148 | 136.374 |
| 7 | 54 | Ty Gibbs (C) | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 26.414 | 0.164 | 136.291 |
| 8 | 71 | Michael McDowell | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 26.432 | 0.182 | 136.199 |
| 9 | 21 | Josh Berry | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 26.443 | 0.193 | 136.142 |
| 10 | 24 | William Byron (C) | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 26.483 | 0.233 | 135.936 |
| 11 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Trackhouse Racing | Chevrolet | 26.513 | 0.263 | 135.782 |
| 12 | 88 | Connor Zilisch # | Trackhouse Racing | Chevrolet | 26.539 | 0.289 | 135.649 |
| 13 | 34 | Todd Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 26.600 | 0.350 | 135.338 |
| 14 | 7 | Daniel Suarez (C) | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 26.606 | 0.356 | 135.308 |
| 15 | 2 | Austin Cindric (C) | Team Penske | Ford | 26.655 | 0.405 | 135.059 |
| 16 | 9 | Chase Elliott (C) | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 26.667 | 0.417 | 134.998 |
| 17 | 17 | Chris Buescher (C) | RFK Racing | Ford | 26.678 | 0.428 | 134.943 |
| 18 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | RFK Racing | Ford | 26.680 | 0.430 | 134.933 |
| 19 | 35 | Riley Herbst | 23XI Racing | Toyota | 26.746 | 0.496 | 134.600 |
| 20 | 38 | Zane Smith | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 26.752 | 0.502 | 134.569 |
| 21 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 26.761 | 0.511 | 134.524 |
| 22 | 5 | Kyle Larson (C) | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 26.769 | 0.519 | 134.484 |
| 23 | 23 | Bubba Wallace (C) | 23XI Racing | Toyota | 26.782 | 0.532 | 134.419 |
| 24 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 26.782 | 0.532 | 134.419 |
| 25 | 97 | Shane Van Gisbergen | Trackhouse Racing | Chevrolet | 26.798 | 0.548 | 134.338 |
| 26 | 60 | Ryan Preece (C) | RFK Racing | Ford | 26.799 | 0.549 | 134.333 |
| 27 | 41 | Cole Custer | Haas Factory Team | Chevrolet | 26.815 | 0.565 | 134.253 |
| 28 | 77 | Carson Hocevar (C) | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 26.821 | 0.571 | 134.223 |
| 29 | 43 | Erik Jones | LEGACY MOTOR CLUB | Toyota | 26.827 | 0.577 | 134.193 |
| 30 | 4 | Noah Gragson | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 26.842 | 0.592 | 134.118 |
| 31 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Hyak Motorsports | Chevrolet | 26.917 | 0.667 | 133.744 |
| 32 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | LEGACY MOTOR CLUB | Toyota | 26.943 | 0.693 | 133.615 |
| 33 | 10 | Ty Dillon | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 26.957 | 0.707 | 133.546 |
| 34 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 26.986 | 0.736 | 133.403 |
| 35 | 33 | Austin Hill(i) | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 26.990 | 0.740 | 133.383 |
| 36 | 67 | * Corey Heim(i) | 23XI Racing | Toyota | 27.002 | 0.752 | 133.323 |
| 37 | 51 | Cody Ware | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet | 27.075 | 0.825 | 132.964 |
