Blaney secures Cup Series pole at Phoenix
Ryan Blaney extended the streak to four different NASCAR Cup Series pole winners to start the season by being fastest in qualifying at Phoenix Raceway.
Blaney won the pole with a lap of 132.70 mph (27.12 mph). It is his seventh career pole and first in the series since Phoenix in the spring of 2019. The Team Penske driver is a three-time Phoenix pole winner.
“I thought it was a pretty decent lap,” Blaney said. “You just hope you make the right changes to try to get a little bit better, and everyone else is trying to do the same thing. I got a little bit tight in (Turns) 3 and 4, and that worried me a little bit, but overall the car had great speed in it and has had really good speed all day. I appreciate everyone’s help. It’s a nice place to start for tomorrow.”
Blaney was the final driver to qualify in the final round of qualifying. The fastest five drivers from each group in the first round advanced to the run for the pole.
Denny Hamlin joins Blaney on the front after clocking in second fastest. Hamlin’s fast lap was 132.35 mph.
The rest of the top five starters are William Byron third (132.27 mph), Christopher Bell fourth (132.27 mph), and Aric Almirola fifth (131.98 mph).
Chase Briscoe qualified sixth at 131.945 mph, Kyle Larson was seventh at 131.941 mph, Austin Cindric was eighth at 131.87 mph, Alex Bowman was ninth at 131.77 mph, and Joey Logano was 10th at 129.92 mph.
Logano got out of shape on his lap off Turn4 and scrapped the wall with the right rear of his Ford. Fortunately, there was no significant damage done to Logano’s car, and it is ready to race Sunday.
https://twitter.com/NASCAR/status/1502737902471729160
“I thought I was good and just fed it a little more throttle to get a little more speed off the corner and it just snapped,” Logano said.
Defending race winner Martin Truex Jr. qualified 20th. His lap was 130.42 mph.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the only driver not to attempt a qualifying lap. JTG Daugherty took the No. 47 Chevrolet to the garage after practice to make an engine change and Stenhouse will start last.
UP NEXT: Ruoff Mortgage 500 at 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday.
Kelly Crandall
Kelly has been on the NASCAR beat full-time since 2013, and joined RACER as chief NASCAR writer in 2017. Her work has also appeared in NASCAR.com, the NASCAR Illustrated magazine, and NBC Sports. A corporate communications graduate from Central Penn College, Crandall is a two-time George Cunningham Writer of the Year recipient from the National Motorsports Press Association.
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