{"id":44243,"date":"2023-11-04T18:10:33","date_gmt":"2023-11-04T23:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=44243"},"modified":"2024-02-15T08:42:43","modified_gmt":"2024-02-15T14:42:43","slug":"championship-4-driver-william-byron-wins-pole-for-nascar-cup-title-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/04\/championship-4-driver-william-byron-wins-pole-for-nascar-cup-title-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Championship 4 driver William Byron wins pole for NASCAR Cup title race"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Reid Spencer<\/em><\/p>\n

NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

AVONDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Championship 4 driver William Byron won the pole for Sunday\u2019s NASCAR Cup Series Championship race at Phoenix Raceway, keeping alive the possibility of preserving a remarkable streak.<\/p>\n

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William Byron, driver of the #24 Axalta Chevrolet, drives during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 04, 2023 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

In each of the three title races at the one-mile track in the Sonoran Desert, the pole winner has gone on to win the race and the championship\u2014Chase Elliott in 2020, Kyle Larson in 2021 and Joey Logano last year.<\/p>\n

In the final round of Saturday\u2019s time trials, Byron navigated the irregular-shaped track in 27.150 seconds (132.597 mph) to claim the top starting spot by 0.018 seconds over Martin Truex Jr. (132.509) mph, who was eliminated from the Playoffs last Sunday at Martinsville.<\/p>\n

Making his final qualifying run as a full-time Cup Series driver, Kevin Harvick earned the third starting spot with a lap at 132.421 mph. Championship 4 contender Larson, Byron\u2019s teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, qualified fourth at 132.397 mph.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy team is really going to like this,\u201d said Byron, who won his fourth Busch Light Pole Award of the season, his first at Phoenix and the 12th of his career\u2014and earned the right to select advantageous Pit Stall No. 1.  <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be fun. All my family and friends are here, all my friends from high school. It\u2019s going to be fun to hang out with them over tonight and just enjoy. This is a great opportunity. I want to be here every year. It\u2019s really fun to be a part of, and we need to take advantage of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Championship 4 drivers Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney, who were the fastest two title contenders in Friday\u2019s practice, failed to make the final round of qualifying and will start 13th and 15th, respectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cI needed about another tenth-and-a-half (of a second)\u2014I don\u2019t know,\u201d said Blaney, who earned his spot in the final four with a victory last Sunday at Martinsville. \u201cI mean, the car didn\u2019t feel bad, just not as much speed as everyone else. I think our race car is good for (Sunday). So, we\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Larson can win a second championship on Sunday. For the other three Playoff drivers, a title would be the first. Larson was reluctant to put too much stock in qualifying speed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we all saw the practice sheets yesterday,\u201d Larson said. \u201cI think the 12 (Blaney) and the 20 (Bell) looked a step better than especially me and even William a little bit. Was honestly surprised that they didn’t make the final round there.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, no, I’m not counting out Blaney or Bell at all. It’s a long race, so they’ll overcome wherever they start. I’m sure they’ll drive through the field. The final four guys, most everybody respects or shows a lot of respect to on the racetrack and gives a lot of space.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they’ll find their way to the front pretty quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bubba Wallace claimed the fifth spot on the grid, followed by Denny Hamlin, Erik Jones, Ross Chastain, Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick, who spun and slapped the Turn 4 wall during his run in the final round.<\/p>\n

Notes: Harvick ran the fastest lap of the day in the first round (27.067 seconds, 133.003 mph)\u2026 Cole Custer qualified 31st in relief of Brad Keselowski, who flew home to Charlotte to be with wife Paige, who went into labor with the couple\u2019s third child. Keselowski is expected to return for Sunday\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying – NASCAR Cup Series Championship<\/b><\/p>\n

Phoenix Raceway<\/b><\/p>\n

Avondale, Arizona<\/b><\/p>\n

Saturday, November 4, 2023<\/b><\/p>\n

                1. (24) William Byron (P) @, Chevrolet, 132.597 mph.<\/p>\n

                2. (19) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 132.509 mph.<\/p>\n

                3. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 132.421 mph.<\/p>\n

                4. (5) Kyle Larson (P) @, Chevrolet, 132.397 mph.<\/p>\n

                5. (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 132.261 mph.<\/p>\n

                6. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 132.139 mph.<\/p>\n

                7. (43) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 131.540 mph.<\/p>\n

                8. (1) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 131.454 mph.<\/p>\n

                9. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford, 131.109 mph.<\/p>\n

                10. (45) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 128.769 mph.<\/p>\n

                11. (54) Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                12. (41) Ryan Preece, Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                13. (20) Christopher Bell (P) @, Toyota, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                14. (38) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                15. (12) Ryan Blaney (P) @, Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                16. (99) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                17. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                18. (8) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                19. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                20. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                21. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                22. (42) Carson Hocevar(i), Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                23. (48) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                24. (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                25. (21) Harrison Burton, Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                26. (14) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                27. (2) Austin Cindric, Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                28. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                29. (7) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                30. (51) Ryan Newman(i), Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                31. (6) Cole Custer(i), Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                32. (16) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                33. (77) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                34. (15) JJ Yeley(i), Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                35. (31) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                36. (78) BJ McLeod(i), Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Championship 4 driver William Byron won the pole for Sunday\u2019s NASCAR Cup Series Championship race at Phoenix Raceway, keeping alive the possibility of preserving a remarkable streak. In each of the three title races at the one-mile track in the Sonoran Desert, the pole winner has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":44248,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[16,395,212],"class_list":["post-44243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-phoenix-raceway","tag-william-byron"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/GettyImages-1775053861-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1633&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-bvB","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44243"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44276,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44243\/revisions\/44276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}