FORT WORTH, Texas - Bubba Wallace turned in a dramatic final lap of NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday to claim the pole position for Sunday’s race.
Wallace’s qualifying lap of 188.337 mph in the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota around the 1.5-mile Fort Worth high banks just edged the hometown favorite, Texas-native Chris Buescher by a slight .039-second.
It’s Wallace’s first pole position of the season and only the second career pole for the 29-year old Mobile, Alabama native – who is one of 12 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff-eligible drivers in this opening race of the second three-race round of the elimination-style format.
Wallace’s fast lap stopped Christopher Bell’s streak of pole positions at three. Bell – who is also championship eligible – swept the pole positions in the entire opening round of Playoffs and will start ninth on Sunday.
Buescher’s teammate and team co-owner, Brad Keselowski – also a Playoff contender – was third fastest, followed by Ty Gibbs in fourth and Ross Chastain – another Playoff driver – in fifth.
A.J. Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Daniel Suárez, Bell, and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top 10 in qualifying to set the 36-car field. Busch, Chastain, Bell and Hamlin are all Playoff contenders too.
In eight series starts at Texas, Wallace has only a single top-10 finish – eighth place coming in his debut on the track in 2018. His only other top 20 (14th) came in 2020 spring race.
“I held it wide open,” Wallace said with a smile, adding, “It’s all about the people at 23XI, the 23-team and the 45-car as well. We keep pushing each other to be better and better and it’s paying off. I’m proud of the effort, but it’s nice for a moment, tomorrow is the real test.
“Was I expecting it? I don’t know. In qualifying I tend to try too hard and overthink things. I need to stop that and just go out and do. So that was a good surprise.”
William Byron and regular season champion, Martin Truex, Jr. – who are tied atop the standings coming into Texas – qualified 18th and 16th, respectively. Kyle Larson, who is ranked third in the championship standings, just missed advancing to the final qualifying session and will start 11th.
Other Playoff drivers, Wallace’s teammate Tyler Reddick and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney will start 15th and 23rd, respectively.
Dawsonville, Georgia’s Chase Elliott will roll off from the 29th place starting spot.
NASCAR Cup Series
Texas Motor Speedway – Fort Worth, TX
AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 – September 23, 2023
Saturday’s Qualifying Results
1. (23) Bubba Wallace (P), Toyota, 188.337 mph.
2. (17) Chris Buescher (P), Ford, 188.081 mph.
3. (6) Brad Keselowski (P), Ford, 187.891 mph.
4. (54) Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, 187.761 mph.
5. (1) Ross Chastain (P), Chevrolet, 187.702 mph.
6. (16) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 187.350 mph.
7. (8) Kyle Busch (P), Chevrolet, 186.948 mph.
8. (99) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 186.948 mph.
9. (20) Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 186.896 mph.
10. (11) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 0.000 mph.
11. (5) Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
12. (43) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
13. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
14. (48) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
15. (45) Tyler Reddick (P), Toyota, 0.000 mph.
16. (19) Martin Truex, Jr. (P), Toyota, 0.000 mph.
17. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford, 0.000 mph.
18. (24) William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
19. (42) Carson Hocevar(i), Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
20. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 0.000 mph.
21. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford, 0.000 mph.
22. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 0.000 mph.
23. (12) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 0.000 mph.
24. (47) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
25. (41) Ryan Preece, Ford, 0.000 mph.
26. (77) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
27. (7) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
28. (31) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
29. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
30. (21) Harrison Burton, Ford, 0.000 mph.
31. (14) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 0.000 mph.
32. (2) Austin Cindric, Ford, 0.000 mph.
33. (38) Zane Smith(i), Ford, 0.000 mph.
34. (78) B.J. McLeod(i), Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
35. (15) J.J. Yeley(i), Ford, 0.000 mph.
36. (51) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 0.000 mph.
WDUN will carry live PRN Radio coverage of Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 from Texas Motor Speedway beginning at 2:30 pm on 102.9 FM and streaming live on AccessWDUN.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2023/9/1205773/bubba-wallace-takes-cup-pole-at-texas-motor-speedway