CONCORD, N.C. – Kyle Larson narrowly edged Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to claim the pole for the Coca-Cola 600 Saturday morning at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Larson, at the wheel of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, used a 29.953-second lap at 182.282 mph to secure his ninth career NASCAR Cup Series pole and first since the 2019 season.
The pole came as a bit of a surprise to Larson, who said his crew chief Cliff Daniels wasn’t particularly confident prior to Saturday morning’s qualifying session.
LINEUP: NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 Starting Lineup
“I felt like I had more grip taking off through (turns) three and four coming to the green than I did the day before,” Larson said. “People were having to lift a little bit, especially in three and four. I felt good grip coming to the green, so I knew I’d be able to hold it wide open no problem in (turns) one and two and in three and four it was definitely easier than it was yesterday.
“I didn’t really honestly expect to (win the pole). Cliff wasn’t too optimistic about it before we got out there. I think that my car just had enough grip.”
Stenhouse put together an impressive lap to earn the second starting position for Sunday’s 600-mile contest at the 1.5-mile speedway, coming up .007 seconds short of Larson’s fast lap. Stenhouse and Larson were among the final drivers to make qualifying laps Saturday morning.
Chase Elliott, fresh off his first NASCAR Cup Series triumph of the season last weekend at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, qualified third. He’ll be joined on the second row by his Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron.
Hendrick Motorsports drivers took three of the first four positions in qualifying, with Chevrolets sweeping the first two rows.
The fastest Ford in the session was Kevin Harvick, who will start fifth. Austin Dillon qualified sixth for Richard Childress Racing, followed by the fourth Hendrick Motorsports entry driven by Alex Bowman.
Martin Truex Jr. was the fastest Toyota in eighth ahead of Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Ross Chastain.
Brad Keselowski, the defending Coca-Cola 600 winner, qualified 13th for Team Penske.
Coverage of the Coca-Cola 600, NASCAR’s longest race, begins at 6 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX.