DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Ryan Blaney, fresh off his second-straight NASCAR Cup Series victory, will lead the field to the green flag Sunday during the running of the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.
The three-time 2021 race winner earned the pole by having the highest qualifying metric score following last Saturday’s race at Daytona Int’l Speedway of those entered at Darlington.
Blaney will be joined on the front row by Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin, who is still in search of his first victory of the season despite leading the NASCAR Cup Series points for most of the year until losing the top spot to Kyle Larson prior to the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona.
Kurt Busch starts third ahead of defending series champion Chase Elliott in fourth. Alex Bowman, championship leader Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. start sixth through 10th, respectively.Â