Kyle Larson rockets to pole in Phoenix Cup Series title race

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.

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