Chase Briscoe Sets Nashville Track Record for 2nd-Straight Cup Pole

Chase Briscoe has found his qualifying stroke in his opening NASCAR Cup Series season as a driver for Joe Gibbs Racing. On Saturday, the 30-year-old racer shattered the Nashville Superspeedway track record on his path to his second-consecutive NASCAR Cup Series pole position, and his third pole through the opening 14 races of the season.

STARTING LINEUP: Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville

Briscoe's qualifying lap time was a 29.125-second circuit around the 1.33-mile speedway, which equated to a 164.395 mph lap. The previous track qualifying record was held by Aric Almirola, who scored the pole at Nashville Superspeedway in 2021 with a lap time of 29.557-seconds (161.922 mph).

The incredible lap allowed the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to bump Denny Hamlin, his teammate, from the provisional pole late in the qualifying session.

While it was a phenomenal lap, Briscoe feels like he left something on the table during his run.

“I guess I just pushed my head farther forward, harder coming to the line,” Briscoe told Prime Video’s Marty Snider. “Honestly, I thought I ran a decent lap, I thought I gave a little bit up, I thought there was definitely some more there, but it was just a smooth, clean lap, but sometimes that’s what it takes.”

The margin of victory for Briscoe's pole-winning run was 0.049-seconds over Hamlin.

While Hamlin notched the second-place starting spot, there is a chance that the driver of the No. 11 Progressive Toyota will be unable to compete in Sunday's Cracker Barrel 400. Hamlin's fiancee Jordan Fish is due to deliver the couple's third child, their first son, on Sunday.

Hamlin has explained that if Fish goes into labor, he will leave Nashville Superspeedway to attend the birth of his third child.

"I can't miss it," Hamlin said in a media scrum on Saturday. "I certainly got to be there for her and that's obviously the biggest priority. I just wish she would hang on a little bit longer."

If Hamlin does indeed leave Nashville early, Ryan Truex will fill-in as the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, and will have to drop to the rear prior to the start of the race due to the driver change.

William Byron, the NASCAR Cup Series point leader, got his weekend off to a strong start at Nashville, as he will roll from the third position on the starting grid on Sunday, and he'll be joined by Tyler Reddick, who was fastest in Saturday's NASCAR Cup Series practice session, in the second row at the start of Sunday's race.

Last week's winner of the Coca-Cola 600, and previous winner at Nashville Superspeedway, Ross Chastain will start from the fifth position.

Brad Keselowski, Christopher Bell, Michael McDowell, Joey Logano, and Chris Buescher rounded out the top-10 qualifiers for Sunday's Cracker Barrel 400.

Other notable qualifiers for this race include Chase Elliott (11th), Bubba Wallace (12th), Ryan Blaney (15th), Austin Cindric (16th), Alex Bowman (24th), and Kyle Larson (28th).

Josh Berry, the driver of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford, and Kyle Busch, the driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, each lost control of their cars in Turn 4 during Saturday's practice session. Berry clocked in 20th in qualifying, while Busch was 25th.

AJ Allmendinger, who was flagged for unapproved adjustments following pre-race inspection, and had to miss the opening 10 minutes of practice earlier in the afternoon, would go on to nab the 17th starting spot for Sunday's race. While Allmendinger will suffer no additional penalties this weekend, there is a chance that the No. 16 Kaulig Racing team could suffer extra sanctions next week.

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