Ross Chastain and Trackhouse Racing Team won their first career poles as a driver and team, respectively on Saturday (June 24) at Nashville Superspeedway for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Ally 400.
Chastain’s lap was over two-tenths of a second faster than Tyler Reddick, who will start on the outside of the front row.
“It’s so much bigger than one race or just getting first pit stall and everything for Nashville. Where Trackhouse was born and started out of Broadway with Tootsies and Justin (Marks, owner) and everybody,” said an emotional Chastain after his pole-winning lap to NBC Sports’ Kim Coon. “Just personally so much agony in qualifying my entire life; I’ve never tied together laps like the car was capable of and always left time out there.
“Just to back up my time from round one to round two was my goal. Just a lot of personal validation that the things we are doing are right.”
Justin Haley will start third, a career best for him at the Cup level. Joey Logano was the fastest Ford in fourth while William Byron rounded out the top five in a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
Sonoma Raceway winner Martin Truex Jr. qualified sixth, with Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace and Daniel Suarez completing the top 10.
Cup Series Nashville Starting Lineup
Suarez was quickest in Group A qualifying, while Wallace ran the fastest lap during the Group B session. However, both spun in turn 4 during their runs in the final round. Suarez hit the wall on the exit of the corner, severely crippling his No. 99 Chevrolet, while Wallace was able to save his car with no damage.
Suarez confirmed after his run that he’ll need to go to a backup car and start in the rear of the field. Corey LaJoie also spun and hit the wall in the same turn during his attempt.
You can watch the NASCAR Cup Series’ Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday (June 25) at 7 p.m. ET on USA Network.
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Cup time: 29.797 160.687
Truck time: 29.571 161.915
They need to cut the truck horsepower!
This should be embarrassing to NASCAR. The fact that they seem oblivious to it speaks volumes. This is something they should fix immediately.
Wonder why someone at frontstretch and every other nascar website isn’t writing about this every week. Only 1 person has been pointing out how ridiculous this is to every writer on frontstretch but the writers are either ignoring the facts or oblivious to what is going on. Won’t get the TV folks to state the obvious.