CONCORD, N.C. — Growing up in Charlotte, William Byron used to sit in the stands and watch drivers like Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace and Jeff Gordon duke it out for 600 miles around the famous 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway and imagined himself taking to the track himself someday.
On Thursday night, Byron became the youngest driver to win the pole for NASCAR longest race after claiming the pole position for Sunday’s 60th running of the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Byron wheeled the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro to the top spot with a fast lap of 183.424 mph to collect just his second-career pole. It’s his sixth top-three start of the season and his third in the last three races.
Aric Almirola was second fastest, running 183.069 mph in the No. 10 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing. Kyle Busch was third with a lap of 182.933 mph, followed by 2017 Coca Cola 600 winner Austin Dillon and Kevin Harvick.
For Byron, it’s been a season’s of firsts for the second-year driver — winning the pole for the season-opening Daytona 500, and now, the youngest pole-winner in race history.
“That’s awesome. This is a dream come true.,” said Byron. “Obviously I grew up in Charlotte and came to this race every year. So, it’s a dream come true to qualify on the pole with Hendrick Motorsports just across the street and all the hard work and everybody at Chevrolet giving us fast race cars. This is pretty cool. I can’t think of a better way to start the weekend.”
It was just 25 years after another second-year Cup Series driver took the No. 24 car to Victory Lane for his first series victory – a driver named Jeff Gordon. On Sunday, Byron will get his shot to lead the field to the green flag for 600 miles, hoping to score his own first-career series victory.
“You take it one step at a time,’ said Byron on looking for that first win. “There are a lot of things we’ve got to do right to get to that point. But, I think the speed has been really good and the execution of our race last weekend was nearly flawless from a team’s perspective and then from my perspective. So, I think we’re getting there, for sure. We’re close.”
Daniel Suarez, Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Daniel Hemric rounded out the top 10 qualifiers.
WDUN will have coverage of the Memorial Day Weekend racing action, beginning on Saturday with live PRN Radio coverage of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Alsco 300 from Charlotte Motor Speedway starting at 12:30 on 102.9 FM and streaming live on AccessWDUN.
That’s followed on Sunday by live IMS Radio Network coverage of the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway beginning at noon on 102.9 FM, at 1 pm on AM 550 and streaming live on AccessWDUN.
Coverage continues on Sunday night live PRN Radio coverage of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 from Charlotte Motor Speedway beginning at 5 pm on 102.9 FM, AM 550 and streaming live on AccessWDUN.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Charlotte Motor Speedway – Concord, NC
Coca-Cola 600 – May 23, 2019
Thursday’s Qualifying Results
1. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet, 183.424 mph.
2. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford, 183.069 mph.
3. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 182.933 mph.
4. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 182.766 mph.
5. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 182.741 mph.
6. (41) Daniel Suarez, Ford, 182.710 mph.
7. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 182.679 mph.
8. (14) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 182.667 mph.
9. (17) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Ford, 182.661 mph.
10. (8) Daniel Hemric #, Chevrolet, 182.506 mph.
11. (1) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 182.414 mph.
12. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 182.346 mph.
13. (88) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 182.322 mph.
14. (19) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 182.297 mph.
15. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 182.131 mph.
16. (20) Erik Jones, Toyota, 182.082 mph.
17. (21) Paul Menard, Ford, 181.830 mph.
18. (6) Ryan Newman, Ford, 181.598 mph.
19. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 181.452 mph.
20. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 181.372 mph.
21. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 181.324 mph.
22. (37) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 181.311 mph.
23. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford, 181.311 mph.
24. (47) Ryan Preece #, Chevrolet, 180.971 mph.
25. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 180.953 mph.
26. (36) Matt Tifft #, Ford, 180.270 mph.
27. (95) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 180.132 mph.
28. (13) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 180.102 mph.
29. (43) Darrell Wallace, Jr., Chevrolet, 179.964 mph.
30. (32) Corey LaJoie, Ford, 179.354 mph.
31. (38) David Ragan, Ford, 178.489 mph.
32. (00) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 177.754 mph.
33. (52) Bayley Currey(i), Ford, 177.416 mph.
34. (96) Parker Kligerman(i), Toyota, 177.223 mph.
35. (15) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 176.667 mph.
36. (53) B.J. McLeod(i), Chevrolet, 174.752 mph.
37. (27) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 174.503 mph.
38. (51) Cody Ware(i), Ford, 169.747 mph.
39. (77) Quin Houff, Chevrolet, 169.030 mph.
40. (66) Joey Gase(i), Toyota, 168.439 mph.
