INDIANAPOLIS – William Byron won the pole Sunday for the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard NASCAR Cup Series race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver ran a fast lap of 100.044 mph around the 14-turn, 2.439-mile course. The driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet will attempt to be the first NASCAR Cup Series winner on the IMS road course. He also won the pole at Road America on July 4.
“Thanks to Hendrick Motorsports building phenomenal road course cars, they are super-fast,” Byron said. “Hopefully, it has the speed in the race to back it up. I’m glad to have qualifying back because I believe it’s one of our strengths at Hendrick Motorsports.
“I worked with IndyCar driver Rinus VeeKay on the GM simulator, and it was really cool to see his technique and hoe I could apply it in the Cup car.”
Chase Briscoe of nearby Mitchell, Ind., will start second after the driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford ran a fast lap at 99.561 mph. Briscoe has more than 300 friends and family members who have made the drive up to Indianapolis from Southern Indiana and are stationed in turn four of the road course.
“That first round, I didn’t really run a super hard lap,” Briscoe said. “I thought we might be fine before William turned a phenomenal lap. We have a good car and will see if we can get to victory lane today.”
Briscoe needs a win to make the NASCAR Cup playoffs.
“I believe our car is way better today than the car we had yesterday,” Briscoe said. “We should be good.”
Road course ace Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports was third at 99.518 mph followed by another race favorite, teammate Kyle Larson, who is fresh off his big win in Saturday night’s Knoxville Nationals at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway. Larson ran a fast speed of 99.433 mph.
Daniel Suarez rounded out the top-five in the No. 99 CommScope Chevrolet at 99.291 mph.
Saturday’s Pennzoil 150 at the Brickyard winner Austin Cindric of Team Penske will start 13th in the No. 33 MoneyLion Ford, next to Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota.
Sunday’s race begins at 1 p.m. EST.