Chase Elliott won the pole position for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International, making a strong statement for his championship hopes as the regular season winds down.
The Dawsonville, Georgia native turned a lap of 125.147 mph around the 2.450-mile road course in the No. 9 Chevrolet, besting his teammate, reigning series champion Kyle Larson by a slight .015-seconds to claim his third pole position of the season and the 12th of this career.
It is a fitting front row for the race start with Elliott and Larson combining for five road course wins just last year. Elliott is a two-time Watkins Glen winner – earning his career first trophy there in 2018 with seven road course victories. Larson is the defending race winner.
“I feel like there’s still work to do there from where we were in practice,’’ Elliott said. “Feel like there’s a couple parts of the track I want to put together better. Just really hard to hit all of it. It’s just so fast. The pace is just so high in this car here.
“I feel like from what I remember with so much throttle you’re carrying, a little bit really goes a long way.’’
Michael McDowell will share the second row with William Byron. Tyler Reddick – who won the series’ last road course event at Indianapolis three weeks ago – was fifth fastest and will start alongside Xfinity Series championship contender A.J. Allmendinger.
Ford drivers Chris Buescher and rookie Austin Cindric make up row eight followed by Daniel Suárez and the top-qualifying Toyota driven by Kyle Busch.
Also of note, Christopher Bell had engine issues during practice and was unable to make a qualifying run so he will start 38th in the 39-car field.
Longtime sports car ace Joey Hand earned a 17th place qualifying position in the No. 15 Ford. Former Formula One world champion Kimi Räikkönen will roll off from 27th position on the grid in his first NASCAR Cup Series start. Another former F1 driver, Daniel Kvyat will start 36th.
WDUN will carry live MRN Radio coverage of Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling at The Glen from Watkins Glen International beginning at 2 pm on 102.9 FM, AM 550, and streaming live on AccessWDUN.
NASCAR Cup Series
Watkins Glen International – Watkins Glen, NY
Go Bowling at The Glen – August 20, 2022
Saturday’s Qualifying Results
1. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 125.147 mph.
2. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 125.078 mph.
3. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford, 124.685 mph.
4. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet, 124.557 mph.
5. (8) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 124.511 mph.
6. (16) A.J. Allmendinger(i), Chevrolet, 124.260 mph.
7. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford, 123.911 mph.
8. (2) Austin Cindric #, Ford, 123.642 mph.
9. (99) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 123.364 mph.
10. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 122.951 mph.
11. (48) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
12. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
13. (31) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
14. (14) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 0.000 mph.
15. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 0.000 mph.
16. (45) Ty Gibbs(i), Toyota, 0.000 mph.
17. (15) Joey Hand, Ford, 0.000 mph.
18. (1) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
19. (38) Todd Gilliland #, Ford, 0.000 mph.
20. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 0.000 mph.
21. (47) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
22. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 0.000 mph.
23. (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 0.000 mph.
24. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 0.000 mph.
25. (19) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 0.000 mph.
26. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 0.000 mph.
27. (91) Kimi Raikkonen, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
28. (42) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
29. (41) Cole Custer, Ford, 0.000 mph.
30. (21) Harrison Burton #, Ford, 0.000 mph.
31. (43) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
32. (7) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
33. (77) Mike Rockenfeller, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
34. (27) Loris Hezemans(i), Ford, 0.000 mph.
35. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford, 0.000 mph.
36. (26) Daniil Kvyat, Toyota, 0.000 mph.
37. (78) Kyle Tilley, Ford, 0.000 mph.
38. (20) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 0.000 mph.
39. (51) Cody Ware, Ford, 0.000 mph.
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