NASCAR Cup Phoenix II
Kyle Larson rockets to pole in Phoenix Cup Series title race
Kyle Larson left no doubt Saturday that he has the speed to contend for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Jim Utter
Edited: Nov 7, 2021, 12:18 AM
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Going out 38th about the 39 cars entered, not only did Larson knock his Hendrick Motorsports teammate and fellow title contender, Chase Elliott, from the pole – but did so emphatically.
Larson’s average lap speed of 137.847 mph was nearly a mile-and-hour faster than Elliott (136.939 mph) – extraordinary on a 1-mile oval like Phoenix Raceway.
“I was a little bit edgy into (Turn) 1. I got off (Turn) 2 really good and I got into (Turn) 3 as hard as I thought that I could,” Larson said. “I was blind – I’m sure all of us were – and probably carried a little bit too much speed and was a little loose off (Turn) 4.
“It’s really cool. A great start to the weekend. It will help with pit stall selection and we’ve been off to a good start on execution and hope to keep that going.”
Asked what the pole means for the race, Larson said: “I don’t know if it’s a championship-winning moment but either way, it’s great to get off to a good start. Hopefully, we can do a good job in the race and keep up with the track.”
The pole is the 10th is Larson’s Cup career and second this season. NASCAR only held qualifying sessions at seven events this season.
Larson won a series-leading nine races this season and was the first driver to lock himself into the Championship 4 thanks to wins at Texas and Kansas in the semifinal round.
Hendrick swept the top three starting positions in the race as William Byron (136.846 mph) ended up third.
Ryan Blaney (136.804 mph) was fourth and Kurt Busch (136.742 mph) rounded out the top-five.
The other two Championship 4 contenders – Denny Hamlin (136.565 mph) and Martin Truex Jr. (135.880 mph) – will line up sixth and 12th, respectively.
Prior to qualifying, the cars of Larson, Truex and Hamlin all failed inspection twice and each had their respective car chiefs ejected for the remainder of the weekend.
Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet passed on the first try.
Read Also:
Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Mph 1 5 
Kyle Larson Chevrolet 1 26.116 137.847 2 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 2 26.289 0.173 0.173 136.939 3 24 William Byron Chevrolet 2 26.307 0.191 0.018 136.846 4 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 2 26.315 0.199 0.008 136.804 5 1 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 2 26.327 0.211 0.012 136.742 6 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 2 26.361 0.245 0.034 136.565 7 41 Cole Custer Ford 2 26.432 0.316 0.071 136.199 8 20 Christopher Bell Toyota 2 26.433 0.317 0.001 136.193 9 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 2 26.434 0.318 0.001 136.188 10 22 Joey Logano Ford 2 26.436 0.320 0.002 136.178 11 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 2 26.469 0.353 0.033 136.008 12 19 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 2 26.494 0.378 0.025 135.880 13 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 2 26.502 0.386 0.008 135.839 14 21 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 2 26.544 0.428 0.042 135.624 15 48 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 2 26.544 0.428 0.000 135.624 16 42 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 2 26.544 0.428 0.000 135.624 17 99 
Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 2 26.558 0.442 0.014 135.552 18 10 Aric Almirola Ford 2 26.568 0.452 0.010 135.501 19 6 Ryan Newman Ford 2 26.576 0.460 0.008 135.461 20 8 Tyler Reddick Chevrolet 2 26.592 0.476 0.016 135.379 21 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Chevrolet 2 26.594 0.478 0.002 135.369 22 14 Chase Briscoe Ford 2 26.623 0.507 0.029 135.221 23 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 2 26.649 0.533 0.026 135.089 24 7 Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 2 26.652 0.536 0.003 135.074 25 23 Bubba Wallace Toyota 2 26.665 0.549 0.013 135.008 26 17 Chris Buescher Ford 2 26.683 0.567 0.018 134.917 27 43 Erik Jones Chevrolet 2 26.722 0.606 0.039 134.720 28 34 Michael McDowell Ford 2 26.811 0.695 0.089 134.273 29 77 Justin Haley Chevrolet 2 26.812 0.696 0.001 134.268 30 38 Anthony Alfredo Ford 2 26.906 0.790 0.094 133.799 31 37 Ryan Preece Chevrolet 2 26.921 0.805 0.015 133.725 32 78 B.J. McLeod Ford 2 27.181 1.065 0.260 132.445 33 51 Cody Ware Chevrolet 2 27.560 1.444 0.379 130.624 34 53 Joey Gase Chevrolet 2 27.716 1.600 0.156 129.889 35 00 Quin Houff Chevrolet 2 27.861 1.745 0.145 129.213 36 13 David Starr Ford 2 27.874 1.758 0.013 129.153 37 52 Josh Bilicki Ford 2 27.887 1.771 0.013 129.092 38 15 Garrett Smithley Chevrolet 2 28.243 2.127 0.356 127.465 39 66 Timmy Hill Toyota
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