AUSTIN, Texas — Ryan Blaney recovered from a spin during practice to win the pole for Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas.
Blaney barely made his way into the final round of qualifying after running the fifth best lap during his group, but turned the fastest lap of the final 10-driver run for the pole for Sunday’s sixth event of the NASCAR Cup Series season.
Blaney drove his Team Penske Ford to a 132.471-second lap, edging Daniel Suarez’s Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet by .026 seconds.
“Honestly, what made me happy about the pole was that we were fifth in our group, barely made the round of 10, and then picked up half a second I think from my first round to the last round. I was proud that we picked up that speed but it was still a ways off from what those guys ran in their initial runs,” Blaney said. “So I didn’t know how it was going to stack up. I just enjoyed that we picked up speed and that was nice, but I didn’t think we were going to sit on the pole. I thought we lacked a little speed and I thought Daniel (Suarez) was going to get it from us. It was good to pick up speed.”
Cole Custer was third in a Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, with Chevrolet drivers Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman rounding out the top five.