Chastain Tops Nashville Cup Qualifying, Earns First Career Pole

Ross Chastain will lead the field to the green flag for Sunday’s Ally 400 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway.

The driver of the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet clocked in the fastest lap of 160.687 mph around the 1.333-mile oval. 

It was Chastain’s first career NASCAR Cup Series pole. 

Starting alongside Chastain on the front row is 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, who missed the top spot by 0.208 seconds. Reddick paced the opening practice session on Friday. 

Click here for qualifying results.

Kaulig Racing’s Justin Haley and Team Penske’s Joey Logano make up row two, with Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron rounding out the top five.

“It was pretty slick there in the second run, for sure. But hey, I think that’s a pretty decent qualifying effort for us – starting toward the front with a good pit stall,” Logano said. “Being outside in the second row is probably a good place to be. We’ll try to have a good points day and put ourselves in the position to win. If we can call the right race and do the right things… The execution will be everything tomorrow.”

Three more Toyota’s made up the top 10 with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. in sixth, teammate Denny Hamlin in eighth and Bubba Wallace in ninth.

Wallace spun coming off turn four during his final run, but did not sustain damage. 

2021 Cup Series champion Kyle Larson qualified his No. 5 HMS Chevrolet in seventh. 

During the final round of qualifying, Daniel Suarez spun in the middle of turns three and four, making contact with the outside wall. As it stands, Suarez will start 10th unless the team elects to move to a backup car.