William Byron won the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway Saturday (Oct. 22), going 166.389 mph in qualifying.
His lap time of 32.454 seconds edged out Christopher Bell by just under five-hundredths of a second. It’s Byron’s first pole of the year and eighth of his career. He’s six points below the cut line heading into Homestead.
Byron’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott slots in third behind Byron and Bell. John Hunter Nemechek, who’s running in place of the suspended Bubba Wallace, got loose on his lap in turn 4 and ended up fourth quickest. Earlier in the morning, Nemechek was fastest overall in Cup practice. A third Hendrick driver, Kyle Larson, rounds out the top five. Larson brushed the wall during practice but the damage was not severe.
Ty Gibbs starts sixth, Tyler Reddick is seventh, RFK Racing cohorts Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski begin eighth and ninth, respectively, and AJ Allmendinger completes the top 10.
Other playoff drivers include Ryan Blaney in 13th, Denny Hamlin in 14th, Joey Logano in 17th, Chase Briscoe in 19th and Ross Chastain in 20th.
NASCAR CUP SERIES DIXIE VODKA 400 STARTING LINEUP
The Dixie Vodka 400 airs Sunday, Oct. 23 at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
About the author
Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She's currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised watching motorsports and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.
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I wonder what the pay is for John Hunter stepping into the 45 tomorrow ! Any idea!
Unlimited Big Macs for the year. The rest of his life if he wins.
The 77, 15, 78 and 51 are the last “qualified” cars in the lineup. Add in the 7 and the 38 and let’s see how many cautions they cause.