Kyle Larson went out late in a rare 2021 NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday and recorded a 26.116-second-137.847 mph lap to claim the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series championship. Larson’s qualifying lap of record was the only lap over 137 mph of the session.
“It was nice to go out second-to-last and have a benchmark to shoot for, ” Larson said. “Really good to get a pole and help out pit stall selection, so that’s nice. It’ll be good to go from pit stall number one. Really happy with our Hendrickcars.com Chevy.”
Fellow-championship contender, reigning Cup Series champion Chase Elliott, qualified second to share the front row with his Hendrick Motorsports teammate. Elliott was the provisional pole sitter for awhile in the second half of qualifying after making his attempt 24th of the 39 cars entered and remained atop the scoring pylon until Larson went out and made his pole-winning run 38th in the qualifying order.
“I really didn’t think it would be second,” Elliott said. “I’m happy with what we have, but we need to be better tomorrow.”
Hendrick drivers qualified in the top-three positions for Sunday’s season finale, as William Byron qualified third.
Ryan Newman, Matt DiBenedetto, Cole Custer and Kurt Busch also took turns as provisional pole sitters during Saturday’s qualifying session. When qualifying ended, Busch remained in the top-five in the fifth position. Ryan Blaney qualified fourth.
In all, three of the four championship contenders qualified in the top-10. Denny Hamlin qualified sixth. The remaining title contender, Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr., qualified 12th.
“I can tell you it doesn’t matter,” Hamlin’s crew chief Chris Gabehart said of qualifying. “You’re going to pick within the first four stalls, and if you have a race car worthy of winning the race, Chase Elliott showed us a year ago that you’re going to drive from 38th to the lead in no time flat.
“This race is pretty unique in that all the other competitors on the racetrack do tend to give a lot of room. They don’t want to be a part of the story. I mean it’s still racing, they can’t help it obviously, but I definitely haven’t focused on qualifying to speak of at all.”
Custer qualified seventh, Christopher Bell eighth, Kevin Harvick ninth and Joey Logano 10th.
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