Chase Briscoe On Coca-Cola 600 Pole; Larson Chases Double From 2nd

Chase Briscoe will begin his bid to add a second NASCAR crown jewel victory to his resume from the pole position in Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Briscoe, who won the pole position in the season-opening Daytona 500, turned a 29.532-second (182.852 mph) lap around the 1.5-mile speedway to secure the pole by 0.020 seconds over Kyle Larson.

STARTING LINEUP: NASCAR Cup Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte

In order to win the pole, Briscoe had to navigate the bumps in Turns 3 and 4.

"Yeah, I mean, it's definitely rough down there," Briscoe explained after his pole-winning run. "It kind of changes year to year. Some of them get better, some of them get worse. But honestly, I feel like the Cup cars take them a lot better than like the Xfinity car."

The 30-year-old racer, who won the crown jewel Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway last season, is excited to start the season's longest race from the front of the field, and to have the advantage of the first pit stall on pit road is a great bonus as well.

"It's definitely was nice. It's going to be great to start up front tomorrow," Briscoe said. "Just this race, obviously, it's a long race. Just having that No. 1 pit stall, and being able to start up front and in clean air is huge in these cars."

Larson, who is in the midst of his quest to compete in the Indianapolis 500/Coca-Cola 600 double, will begin the second leg of his 1,100-mile journey on Sunday from the outside of the front row. Larson will roll from the 19th starting spot in the 109th Indianapolis 500.

William Byron qualified on the inside of Row 2 in the third position, and he was followed by Chris Buescher, AJ Allmendinger, John Hunter Nemechek, Ty Gibbs, Noah Gragson, Alex Bowman, and Christopher Bell inside of the top-10 of the starting grid for the Coca-Cola 600.

With the pole, the fourth of his NASCAR Cup Series career, Briscoe becomes the first driver to score the pole in the Daytona 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same season since Jimmie Johnson accomplished the feat during his rookie campaign in 2002.

Ironically, Johnson will make his 700th career start in Sunday's race, one of two races that Johnson will compete in this year. Another ironic note, the other race Johnson competed in this year was the Daytona 500, which Briscoe also scored the pole for.

Johnson will start Sunday's race from the 17th starting position, a solid qualifying effort for a driver, who hasn't competed since Daytona in February. For Johnson, a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, it's his best-ever starting position in the Next Gen race car.

Kyle Busch, who was unable to take a lap in Saturday's practice session due to steering issues with his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, was able to get on track in qualifying and secured the 24th starting spot for the event.

Earlier in the day, Busch and Richard Childress Racing announced a one-year contract extension, which will keep Busch behind the wheel of the No. 8 Chevrolet through the end of the 2026 season.

Carson Hocevar led the way in single-lap speed in Saturday's NASCAR Cup Series practice session, but spun his No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet on the exit of Turn 4 during his qualifying run.