Ryan Blaney turned a 127.064-mph lap Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway to win the NASCAR Cup Series pole, his first since last August and the 13th of his career. It was his first time at the front of the field in 19 starts, and it came two years after he also started on pole at Bristol.
"Cool start to the weekend," Blaney said. "Now we've got to do it for 500 laps. Should be fun. I think we're going to have a handful, and everyone's going to be like that keeping up with the racetrack."
Tyler Reddick was bumped from the top spot and settled for second, with Chase Briscoe third, Riley Herbst fourth, Ty Gibbs fifth and Ross Chastain sixth. Kyle Larson qualified eighth, while Alex Bowman was 27th in his return after missing four races with vertigo.
Reddick, who came into the event as the points leader and had won four of the first six races this season, said he thought he left time on the table on his qualifying lap. "We got into Turn 3 on the money lap pretty good, and I just oversent it a little bit with a big correction," he said. "I was concerned that I left some on the table there, and that's definitely where we gave it up to (Blaney)."
The pole adds another sharp note to Blaney's Bristol record. He has led 585 laps on the 0.533-mile oval, more than any Cup driver without a win there, but victory at the track has continued to elude him. The race was scheduled for 500 laps, giving Blaney another chance to turn a fast qualifying run into a result that has so far stayed just out of reach.
Chastain's day carried a penalty before the green flag after his No. 1 Chevrolet failed inspection twice, costing him his choice of pit selection and getting a crew member ejected. Larson's No. 5 Chevrolet also failed inspection twice. That left both drivers dealing with the fallout before Bristol even went racing, while Blaney and Reddick moved to the front of the grid with the pressure now shifting to Sunday.
