William Byron, who is second in the standings for the Cup series, reserved his finest performance for the final race after claiming the pole position at Pocono Raceway.
William Byron seems to be still on good form after the Hendrick Motorsports driver did a fantastic job in qualifying in the Pocono Mountains. On this Tricky Triangle, there were challenges affecting part of the NASCAR Cup Series field but he maintained a near-perfect performance as he took the pole position.
Martin Truex Jr. who won the New Hampshire race last weekend, had the highest average lap speed in practice or qualifying at 170.235 mph but Byron’s 170.629 mph was just a hair faster.
William Byron has already claimed the pole position three times this year. The final pole for Byron came in Kansas after he made his season debut at COTA. He has therefore demonstrated his abilities across multiple racetracks this season.
Byron will be one of the Sunday favorites with this speed. Martin Truex Jr. has some speed as well, so don’t get overly thrilled. Tomorrow’s clash in Pocono might be a lot of fun.
Kyle Larson, Byron’s HMS teammate will start third ahead of Kevin Harvick with Joe Gibbs Racing in fourth while Christopher Bell, Truex’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate will start fifth.
Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick who finished first in practice, Denny Hamlin, Austin Cindric, and Bubba Wallace round out the top ten starting lineup.
Bubba Wallace attempted to qualify for the final round but struck the wall as he came out of Turn 1. This appeared to cause serious right-side damage to his No. 23 Toyota.
Wallace will probably have to start Sunday’s race from the back of the pack due to repairs made to his car.