Chase Briscoe scored the pole in qualifying for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at WWT Raceway. Photo: Jeff Curry/Getty Images
On a track similar to the one that gave him his first NASCAR Cup Series victory, Chase Briscoe achieved another career first — a Cup Series pole position.
In the final round of time trials on Saturday, Briscoe sped around 1.25-mile World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in 32.544 seconds (138.274 mph) to earn the top starting position for Sunday’s inaugural Enjoy Illinois 300.
Even though he had a slight bobble on his money lap, Briscoe was fast enough to beat fellow Ford driver Austin Cindric (137.775 mph) by .118 seconds.
“It’s funny,” said Briscoe, who won his first race earlier this season at Phoenix Raceway. “The first round, I felt I underdrove extremely bad, and the second round I overdrove… I got really loose getting into (turn) 3, and I felt like I probably gave away what advantage I had through (turns) 1 and 2…
“We were obviously really good at Phoenix, and I have a really close package to that. We’ll see if we can have the same result as Phoenix. Obviously, I’ve got the best starting spot for that, and looking forward to tomorrow, for sure.”
Briscoe is the fifth driver to earn a first career pole this season.
Christopher Bell qualified third at 137.560 mph, followed by Tyler Reddick (137.514 mph) and Ryan Blaney (137.468 mph).
Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, Harrison Burton and Ross Chastain will start from positions six through 10, respectively, after advancing to the final round of qualifying.
NASCAR Cup Series
World Wide Technology Raceway – Madison, IL
Enjoy Illinois 300 – June 4, 2022
Saturday’s Qualifying Results
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
1. 14 Chase Briscoe HighPoint.com Ford 32.544 138.274
2. 2 Austin Cindric # Menards/Atlas Ford 32.662 137.775
3. 20 Christopher Bell Rheem Toyota 32.713 137.560
4. 8 Tyler Reddick 3CHI Chevrolet 32.724 137.514
5. 12 Ryan Blaney Dent Wizard Ford 32.735 137.468
6. 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Freight Toyota 32.760 137.363
7. 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 32.820 137.112
8. 10 Aric Almirola Built Ford Proud Ford 32.820 137.112
9. 21 Harrison Burton # Ford/DAV Ford 32.828 137.078
10. 1 Ross Chastain Moose Fraternity Chevrolet 32.870 136.903
11. 45 Kurt Busch Monster Energy Toyota 32.803 137.183
12. 18 Kyle Busch Snickers Toyota 32.827 137.082
13. 19 Martin Truex, Jr. Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota 32.868 136.911
14. 41 Cole Custer Feeding America/Wow Wow Ford 32.932 136.645
15. 5 Kyle Larson Valvoline Chevrolet 32.939 136.616
16. 9 Chase Elliott Hooters Chevrolet 32.941 136.608
17. 34 Michael McDowell WISE-EV Ford 32.960 136.529
18. 23 Bubba Wallace McDonald’s Toyota 32.977 136.459
19. 7 Corey LaJoie Built.com Chevrolet 32.997 136.376
20. 4 Kevin Harvick #BuschLightPolite Ford 33.019 136.285
21. 43 Erik Jones Bommarito Automotive Group Chevrolet 33.019 136.285
22. 38 Todd Gilliland # First Phase Ford 33.055 136.137
23. 99 Daniel Suarez Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge Chevrolet 33.088 136.001
24. 24 William Byron RaptorTough.com Chevrolet 33.112 135.902
25. 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 33.150 135.747
26. 42 Ty Dillon Chevrolet Military Appreciation Chevrolet 33.285 135.196
27. 47 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. SunnyD Chevrolet 33.299 135.139
28. 31 Justin Haley LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 33.339 134.977
29. 3 Austin Dillon Get Bioethanol Chevrolet 33.415 134.670
30. 6 Brad Keselowski Solomon Plumbing Ford 33.575 134.028
31. 51 Cody Ware Nurtec ODT Ford 33.625 133.829
32. 17 Zane Smith(i) Acronis Ford 33.671 133.646
33. 77 Josh Bilicki(i) Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet 33.744 133.357
34. 78 B.J. McLeod Blaster Ford 34.477 130.522
35. 16 Ben Rhodes(i) Gold Fish Casino Slots Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
36. 15 Parker Kligerman(i) Scott Credit Union Ford 0.000 0.000
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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