Yahoo Autos Gibbs motors to maiden Cup Series pole at Charlotte
Ty Gibbs earned his first career NASCAR Cup Series pole Saturday evening at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600.
Gibbs went to the top of the leaderboard in the final round of single-car qualifying at 183.955mph (29.355s). The Joe Gibbs Racing driver makes his 65th start Sunday night. The pole eclipses two previous races this season (Phoenix and Texas) where Gibbs started second.
“It was a really easy, clean lap,” Gibbs said. “My car was handling really well, and I just had to be really disciplined in [Turns] 3 and 4 on getting to the bottom and making sure my exit was good.”
William Byron qualified second at 183.580mph, Christopher Bell, third at 183.461mph, Martin Truex Jr., fourth at 182.871mph and Chase Elliott, fifth at 182.704mph.
Alex Bowman qualified sixth at 182.624mph, Ross Chastain, seventh at 182.285mph, Tyler Reddick, eighth at 182.137mph, Michael McDowell, ninth at 181.886mph and Kyle Larson, 10th at 181.702mph.
Despite his qualifying run, Reddick will drop to the rear of the field for Sunday’s race and serve a pass-through penalty. Reddick’s car had an unapproved adjustment to its underwing after inspection. The team also lost its pit stall selection and Reddick’s car chief was ejected.
Denny Hamlin missed the final round of qualifying and will start 11th. Josh Berry qualified 13th for his first Coca-Cola 600.
Ryan Blaney, the defending race winner, qualified 16th. Carson Hocevar, also making his first Coca-Cola 600 start, qualified 20th.
Joey Logano qualified 28th, Jimmie Johnson, 29th and Brad Keselowski, 30th. Shane van Gisbergen, in the No. 16 entry for Kaulig Racing, qualified 36th for his Coca-Cola 600 debut.
Chris Buescher did not make a qualifying lap. Buescher crashed in practice because of a left-rear tire issue and the team is working on a backup car for Sunday’s race.
J.J. Yeley in the No. 44 for NY Racing Team was not permitted to qualify. The team had three inspection failures.
There are 40 drivers who will take the green flag Sunday night.
