LONG POND, Pa. – William Byron earned his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series pole in as many weeks on Saturday afternoon at Pocono Raceway.
Byron, who won the pole for the Coca-Cola 600 last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway, claimed the pole for the Pocono 400 with a 51.875-second lap at 173.494 mph in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
Byron was the only driver to top 173 miles per hour during qualifying. Now he’ll turn his attention as he continues to pursue his first series victory.
“It’s on me to know what I need throughout the race and I feel like I’m starting to learn a little bit of what it takes in the last 100 laps instead of the first 80, which we’ve been pretty good,” said the 21-year-old after earning his third pole of the season. “It’s an impound race, so it’s great to see our speed is there.”
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship leader Kyle Busch qualified second in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Clint Bowyer, Erik Jones and Brad Keselowski completed the top-five in qualifying.
The remainder of the top-10 includes Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Jimmie Johnson, Daniel Suarez and Austin Dillon.
Saturday’s qualifying session featured a slight change to single-car qualifying. Three cars were on track at the same time, with each car departing pit road in 15 second intervals. When the final car in the group finished their qualifying run and reached the tunnel turn the next group would be released to qualify.
Pocono 400 Starting Lineup
1. William Byron
2. Kyle Busch
3. Clint Bowyer
4. Erik Jones
5. Brad Keselowski
6. Denny Hamlin
7. Kyle Larson
8. Jimmie Johnson
9. Daniel Suarez
10. Austin Dillon
11. Kevin Harvick
12. Chase Elliott
13. Aric Almirola
14. Paul Menard
15. Alex Bowman
16. Joey Logano
17. Ryan Blaney
18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
19. Ryan Newman
20. Martin Truex Jr.
21. Kurt Busch
22. Matt DiBenedetto
23. Daniel Hemric
24. Chris Buescher
25. Ty Dillon
26. Bubba Wallace
27. David Ragan
28. Michael McDowell
29. Ryan Preece
30. Matt Tifft
31. Landon Cassill
32. Ross Chastain
33. Corey LaJoie
34. Bayley Currey
35. Reed Sorenson
36. Quin Houff
37. J.J. Yeley