Qualifying report
NASCAR Cup Watkins Glen
Chase Elliott earns Watkins Glen pole over William Byron
Trying for a repeat victory, Chase Elliott will start in the best position possible Sunday at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International.
Jim Utter
Edited: Aug 4, 2019, 12:28 AM
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Elliott earned his first career win in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series last season at the Glen and will start on the pole for Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen as he attempts his second consecutive win at the road course.
Elliott was fastest in both qualifying sessions, topping the final 10-minute session with an average lap speed of 127.297 mph.
William Byron ended up second (127.144 mph) and Kyle Busch was third (126.976 mph). Martin Truex Jr. was fourth and Kyle Larson completed the top-five.
The pole is Elliott’s third this season and seventh of his career. It’s his first pole at a road course.
“In practice it was so hard to tell but today I felt like throughout practice we were able to have decent pace for a handful of laps and I felt like we needed to work on our long-run pace,” Elliott said.
“Obviously, that’s the biggest question going into tomorrow. It’s really important to have long-run speed. Qualifying well is a big thing here. It’s going to be a hard thing to do to pass those top five or six guys, so to be among that crowd is key.
“Having a nice pit road selection to pit somewhere by yourself and try to eliminate as many mistakes as possible is the goal. We just need to have a really good day.”
Rounding out the top 12 starters are Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Aric Almirola, Brad Keselowski, Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Round 1
Elliott led the way in the first 15-minute session with an average lap speed of 126.720 mph.
Truex was second (126.682 mph) and Kyle Busch was third (126.580 mph). Hamlin was third and Byron rounded out the top-five.
Also advancing to the final round were Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Johnson, Larson, McDowell, Stenhouse and Almirola.
Erik Jones went out early in the session but blew a tire on his first run and his No. 20 Toyota came to a stop on the track.
NASCAR allowed Jones’ team to change a tire and he made another qualifying attempt later in the session and ended up 14th.
Among those who also failed to advance were Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Alex Bowman, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman and Austin Dillon.
Cla # Driver Manufacturer Time Gap Mph 1 9 
Chase Elliott Chevrolet 1'09.287 127.297 2 24 William Byron Chevrolet 1'09.370 0.083 127.144 3 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 1'09.462 0.175 126.976 4 19 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 1'09.525 0.238 126.861 5 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 1'09.570 0.283 126.779 6 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 1'09.599 0.312 126.726 7 1 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 1'09.834 0.547 126.300 8 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 1'09.931 0.644 126.124 9 10 Aric Almirola Ford 1'10.040 0.753 125.928 10 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 1'10.041 0.754 125.926 11 34 Michael McDowell Ford 1'10.229 0.942 125.589 12 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 1'10.550 1.263 125.018 13 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 1'10.215 0.928 125.614 14 20 Erik Jones Toyota 1'10.230 0.943 125.587 15 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 1'10.273 0.986 125.511 16 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 1'10.276 0.989 125.505 17 88 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 1'10.278 0.991 125.502 18 41 
Daniel Suarez Ford 1'10.308 1.021 125.448 19 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 1'10.340 1.053 125.391 20 95 Matt DiBenedetto Toyota 1'10.352 1.065 125.370 21 22 Joey Logano Ford 1'10.374 1.087 125.330 22 21 Paul Menard Ford 1'10.467 1.180 125.165 23 8 Daniel Hemric Chevrolet 1'10.785 1.498 124.603 24 96 Parker Kligerman Toyota 1'10.811 1.524 124.557 25 6 Ryan Newman Ford 1'10.858 1.571 124.474 26 36 Matt Tifft Ford 1'10.866 1.579 124.460 27 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 1'10.933 1.646 124.343 28 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 1'11.065 1.778 124.112 29 47 Ryan Preece Chevrolet 1'11.270 1.983 123.755 30 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 1'11.390 2.103 123.547 31 38 David Ragan Ford 1'11.557 2.270 123.258 32 15 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 1'11.772 2.485 122.889 33 32 Corey Lajoie Ford 1'11.868 2.581 122.725 34 00 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 1'12.364 3.077 121.884 35 51 Cody Ware Chevrolet 1'13.234 3.947 120.436 36 52 Josh Bilicki Chevrolet 1'13.266 3.979 120.383 37 77 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 1'16.271 6.984 115.640
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