Needing a strong performance on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course to bolster his Playoff hopes, Daniel Suárez got off to the best possible start on Saturday.
Touring the 2.439-mile, 14-turn circuit in 87.968 seconds (99.814 mph) in his No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, Suárez earned the pole position for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race.
Suárez beat defending race winner Tyler Reddick (99.649 mph) by a substantial margin — 0.145 seconds — to secure his first pole of the season, his first at the Indy road course and the third of his series career.
With three races left before the Playoff field is set, Suárez is 18th in the standings, five points behind Ty Gibbs in 16th, the last Playoff-eligible position. Gibbs qualified 10th on Saturday, last among those who advanced to the final round.
“I think the mentality on the 99 team hasn’t changed the last couple of months,” Suárez said. “We have to continue to focus on one race at a time, try to maximize the potential of the race car and try to win a race if it’s possible…
“The energy has been great. The guys have been working very hard. I’ve been working very hard, and it shows.”
Dawsonville, Georgia’s Chase Elliott, 55 points below the Playoff cut line and realistically needing a victory to advance, qualified third at 99.399 mph.
“These things can go all sorts of different ways, but it is nice to have good track position, always,” Elliott said. “As time has gone on, it’s getting tougher and tougher to pass the leader, especially late in the race.”
Michael McDowell, two points ahead of Suarez and 17th in the standings will start fourth after a lap at 99.288 mph.
McDowell posted the fastest lap of the day at 99.881 mph in the first round.
“That’s what we needed to do — qualify in the top five and now race in the top five, score stage points and be there in the end to steal the win,” McDowell said. “Let’s see what happens. You don’t know until you get out there and get to race pace.
“Our long run speed was good in practice — as long as you could run in 10 laps. But we’ll see what happens when we get into a 20-lap run and we stack up. But I feel good where we are.”
Kyle Busch earned the fifth spot on the grid, followed by Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and Chicago street course winner Shane van Gisbergen of New Zealand. Alex Bowman will start ninth on Sunday with a time identical to that of Gibbs — 88.606 seconds.
Australian Brodie Kostecki claimed the 11th starting position for his Cup debut, but he slid into the outside wall and damaged his No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Ford during a second attempt at a lap in the first round.
NASCAR Cup Series
Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Indianapolis, IN
Verizon 200 – August 12, 2023
Saturday’s Qualifying Results
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
1. 99 Daniel Suarez Freeway.com Chevrolet 87.968 99.814
2. 45 Tyler Reddick SiriusXM Radio Toyota 88.113 99.649
3. 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 88.335 99.399
4. 34 Michael McDowell Horizon Hobby Ford 88.434 99.288
5. 8 Kyle Busch 3CHI Chevrolet 88.496 99.218
6. 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 88.499 99.215
7. 20 Christopher Bell Rheem/PSC Industries-Johns Manville Toyota 88.516 99.196
8. 91 Shane Van Gisbergen(i) Enhance Health Chevrolet 88.544 99.164
9. 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 88.606 99.095
10. 54 Ty Gibbs # Monster Energy Toyota 88.606 99.095
11. 33 Brodie Kostecki Mobile X Chevrolet 88.495 99.219
12. 19 Martin Truex, Jr. Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota 88.533 99.177
13. 14 Chase Briscoe HighPoint.com Ford 88.539 99.170
14. 7 Corey LaJoie Gainbridge Chevrolet 88.656 99.039
15. 31 Justin Haley LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 88.669 99.024
16. 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Atlas Ford 88.764 98.918
17. 17 Chris Buescher Castrol Edge Ford 88.839 98.835
18. 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 88.855 98.817
19. 23 Bubba Wallace MoneyLion Toyota 88.924 98.740
20. 2 Austin Cindric Discount Tire Ford 88.939 98.724
21. 1 Ross Chastain Worldwide Express Chevrolet 88.947 98.715
22. 6 Brad Keselowski Socios.com Ford 88.953 98.708
23. 38 Todd Gilliland gener8tor Skills Ford 88.962 98.698
24. 21 Harrison Burton DEX Imaging Ford 88.996 98.661
25. 11 Denny Hamlin Yahoo! Toyota 89.005 98.651
26. 16 A.J. Allmendinger Dyna-Gro Seed Chevrolet 89.065 98.584
27. 3 Austin Dillon Cowboy Channel Chevrolet 89.068 98.581
28. 67 Kamui Kobayashi(i) Toyota Genuine Parts Toyota 89.077 98.571
29. 51 Andy Lally Camping World Ford 89.119 98.524
30. 41 Ryan Preece Purdue University Ford 89.203 98.432
31. 15 Jenson Button Mobil 1 Ford 89.269 98.359
32. 78 Josh Bilicki(i) Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet 89.400 98.215
33. 10 Aric Almirola Ford Ford 89.537 98.064
34. 47 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Kroger/Frosted Flakes Chevrolet 89.694 97.893
35. 77 Ty Dillon Raze Tea Chevrolet 89.762 97.819
36. 43 Erik Jones Allegiant Chevrolet 89.789 97.789
37. 42 Mike Rockenfeller Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet 89.819 97.757
38. 4 Kevin Harvick Mobil 1 Ford 89.820 97.756
39. 24 William Byron RaptorTough.com Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
WDUN will carry live IMS Radio Network coverage of Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Verizon 200 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course at 1:30 pm on 102.9 FM, AM 550 and streaming live on AccessWDUN.
