William Byron has become a pole betting favorite at a NASCAR Cup Series road course after grabbing another one at Circuit of the Americas.
Byron took pole for Sunday’s race with a lap of 93.882 mph (2m 10.76s). While this is his first COTA pole, it is Byron’s fourth road course pole. He is the first driver in the Cup Series to win the title at four different road courses (Charlotte 2019; Road America 2021; Indianapolis 2021).
“It’s been an up and down weekend; the Trophy car, we definitely had a little bit of work to do yesterday in getting the overall balance and grip in some areas, then me as a driver,” said Byron. “When I spoke overnight (with Team) We felt like there was maybe three-tenths on my end and on the end of the car. We were able to bridge that gap a bit today and bring them both together.
“It’s nice to get pole position, but tomorrow is what counts. There’s a lot of work to do. There’s a lot of physical work to do in the (Xfinity Series) race later today, and then tomorrow’s going to be tough. Excited about it, Hopefully, we can prepare all day and go into tomorrow.”
Tyler Reddick will join Byron on the front row. Riddick, who was the fastest in practice and the fastest of the second group of drivers in qualifying, ran a lap of 93.783 mph in the final round.
Austin Cindrick qualified third at 93.459 mph while Jordan Taylor qualified fourth at 93.174 mph. IMSA veteran Taylor is making his NASCAR Cup Series debut driving the No. 9 for Hendrick Motorsports in place of the injured Chase Elliott.
Daniel Suarez qualified fifth at 93.067 mph ahead of Alex Bowman in sixth at 93.911 mph and AJ Allmendinger in seventh at 92.840 mph.
Eric Jones qualified eighth at 92.838 mph, Kyle Busch qualified ninth at 92.678 mph, and Noah Gragson qualified tenth at 92.188 mph. This is the first time Legacy Motor Club drivers have reached the final round of qualifying at the same course. Defending race winner Ross Chastain qualified 12th, with his fastest lap being 93.310 mph.
Kimi Räikkönen qualified 22nd and Jenson Button 24th. Jimmie Johnson qualified 31st.
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