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Led by William Byron, Hendrick sweeps Charlotte Roval front row

Whether oval or Roval, William Byron has been fast this season at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro UniFirst wins the pole.

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro UniFirst wins the pole.

Rusty Jarrett / NKP / Motorsport Images

Byron’s average lap speed of 103.198 mph in the final 10-minute session of group qualifying gave him the pole for Sunday’s Bank of America 400 on Charlotte’s 17-turn, 2.28-mile combination oval and infield road course.

Byron, 21, also won the pole for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in May.

Byron’s Hendrick Motorsports’ teammate, Alex Bowman, ended up second-fastest (103.078 mph) and will join him on the front row. Joey Logano ended up third (103.027 mph). 

Jimmie Johnson was fourth, giving HMS three of the top-five starting positions, and Clint Bowyer ended up fifth after missing the backstretch chicane on his first attempt in the final round.

The pole is the fifth of Byron’s NASCAR Cup Series career, all coming this season.

“The guys did a great job with this car. It really takes every corner getting around this race track to get a pole,” Byron said. “I knew we could qualify in the top-five but I was really wanting a pole and really kind of went out there and got it.

“Max (Papis) and I were out at the karting track on Monday and we took (crew chief) Chad (Knaus) out there with us and it helped. He did a good job.

“You know, road courses were a big struggle for me when I first started racing and I’ve progressively gotten better and I really enjoy them now. Now, it’s all about racing and it’s good to have two hometown poles – that’s pretty cool.”

Byron has started on the front row of all three road courses this season (he started second at both Sonoma and Watkins Glen).

Rounding out the top-12 starters are Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney, Paul Menard, Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher.

Round 1

Byron led a Chevrolet sweep of the top three positions in the first round with an average lap speed of 103.237 mph.

Larson was second (103.175 mph) and Johnson was third (102.612 mph). Bowyer was fourth and Keselowski rounded out the top-five.

Also advancing to the final round were Bowman, Buescher, Logano, Harvick, Truex, Blaney and Menard.

About 13 minutes into the session, Elliott locked up his rear-tires in the frontstretch chicane and spun out but didn’t do any damage to his No. 9 Chevrolet.

 

Elliott ended up 19th-fastest in the session.

Among those failing to advance were Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones, Kyle Busch, Elliott, Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin.

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Time Gap Mph
1 24 United States William Byron  Chevrolet 1'20.932   103.198
2 88 United States Alex Bowman  Chevrolet 1'21.026 0.094 103.078
3 22 United States Joey Logano  Ford 1'21.058 0.126 103.037
4 48 United States Jimmie Johnson  Chevrolet 1'21.172 0.240 102.893
5 14 United States Clint Bowyer  Ford 1'21.215 0.283 102.838
6 4 United States Kevin Harvick  Ford 1'21.576 0.644 102.383
7 42 United States Kyle Larson  Chevrolet 1'21.595 0.663 102.359
8 19 United States Martin Truex Jr.  Toyota 1'22.068 1.136 101.769
9 12 United States Ryan Blaney  Ford 1'22.094 1.162 101.737
10 21 United States Paul Menard  Ford 1'22.215 1.283 101.587
11 2 United States Brad Keselowski  Ford 1'22.297 1.365 101.486
12 37 United States Chris Buescher  Chevrolet 1'22.327 1.395 101.449
13 41 Mexico Daniel Suarez  Ford 1'21.920 0.988 101.953
14 47 United States Ryan Preece  Chevrolet 1'21.928 0.996 101.943
15 20 United States Erik Jones  Toyota 1'21.973 1.041 101.887
16 10 United States Aric Almirola  Ford 1'21.978 1.046 101.881
17 18 United States Kyle Busch  Toyota 1'21.986 1.054 101.871
18 95 United States Matt DiBenedetto  Toyota 1'21.993 1.061 101.862
19 9 United States Chase Elliott  Chevrolet 1'22.098 1.166 101.732
20 8 United States Daniel Hemric  Chevrolet 1'22.127 1.195 101.696
21 17 United States Ricky Stenhouse Jr.  Ford 1'22.232 1.30 101.566
22 34 United States Michael McDowell  Ford 1'22.252 1.320 101.542
23 1 United States Kurt Busch  Chevrolet 1'22.317 1.385 101.461
24 6 United States Ryan Newman  Ford 1'22.572 1.640 101.148
25 43 United States Darrell Wallace Jr.  Chevrolet 1'22.582 1.650 101.136
26 32 United States Corey Lajoie  Ford 1'22.630 1.698 101.077
27 38 United States David Ragan  Ford 1'23.088 2.156 100.520
28 11 United States Denny Hamlin  Toyota 1'23.099 2.167 100.507
29 13 United States Ty Dillon  Chevrolet 1'23.121 2.189 100.480
30 3 United States Austin Dillon  Chevrolet 1'23.232 2.30 100.346
31 51 United States Cody Ware  Chevrolet 1'24.220 3.288 99.169
32 00 United States Landon Cassill  Chevrolet 1'24.690 3.758 98.618
33 66 United States Timmy Hill  Toyota 1'25.315 4.383 97.896
34 53 United States Josh Bilicki  Chevrolet 1'25.572 4.640 97.602
35 52 United States Garrett Smithley  Chevrolet 1'25.782 4.850 97.363
36 15 United States Ross Chastain  Chevrolet      
37 36 United States Matt Tifft  Ford      
38 77 United States Reed Sorenson  Chevrolet      
39 27 United States Joe Nemechek  Chevrolet      
40 96 United States Parker Kligerman  Toyota    

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