By STEVE REED AP Sports Writer
CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Chase Briscoe won the pole Saturday for the Coca-Cola 600 and will start on the front row for NASCAR’s longest and most grueling race alongside Kyle Larson.
Briscoe, driving the No. 19 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, turned a lap of 182.852 mph on the 1 1/2-mile oval at Charlotte Motor Speedway to edge out Larson, who plans to arrive at the track about an hour before the race Sunday night after completing the Indianapolis 500.
“It’s going to be great to start up front,” Briscoe said. “Adding that No. 1 pit stall, and to be able to race in clean air is huge.”
Briscoe comes in with four top-five finishes in the Cup Series this year, but has yet to win a race.
He also won the Daytona 500 pole earlier this year.
“It’s pretty wild, really,” Briscoe said. “I never thought I would get to run a Truck Series race let alone lead the way at two crown jewel events.”
William Byron, who signed a four-year contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports on Friday, celebrated by turning a lap of 182.642 and will start third, followed by Chris Buescher and AJ Allmendinger. Rounding out the top 10 will be John Nemechek, Ty Gibbs, Noah Gragson, Alex Bowman and defending race champion Christopher Bell.
Briscoe knows winning the Coca-Cola 600 pole does not necessarily guarantee success, particularly in such a long race.
Larson won from the pole in 2021, but prior to that the last driver to accomplish that feat was Jeff Gordon in 1998.
Bell won last year’s rain-shortened 249-lap race, and is now out to prove that was no fluke.
“Certainly, I have gotten annoyed by people calling it an asterisk win, so I would love to win this race as the Coca-Cola 600 and run the full 600 miles,” Bell said. “We should be really competitive. The last couple of years this has been one of our best intermediate tracks, as far as the 20 group goes, so I really look forward to the challenge.”
Last year fans booed loudly after waiting through a long rain delay, only to have NASCAR announce early in the morning hours that the race could not be completed because of the inability to dry the track.
“I want to be a 600-mile winner and not get booed going into victory lane,” Bell said with a laugh.
One thing to keep an eye on Sunday will be how the track reacts to the racecars in Turns 3 and 4, as drivers talked repeatedly about how particularly bumpy it is there.
“It’s definitely rough down there,” Briscoe said. “It kind of changes year to year.”
Jimmie Johnson, making his 700th career Cup Series start, will start 37th as he attempts to match Darrell Waltrip for the most Coca-Cola 600 wins with five. The part-owner at Legacy Motor Group is largely considered a longshot, despite his tremendous success at the CMS, where he’s also won the Bank of America 400 four times and All-Star race four times.
“I love endurance events and this is our marathon,” Johnson said. “As a kid watching this before I was ever back here racing, I was always so intrigued by a 600-mile race. Cars back then had a tough time making it. The drivers did as well. It is a long event. I think it is a little harder on the party animal fans in the infield to go the extra 100 miles.”