Ross Chastain will lead the NASCAR Cup Series field to the green flag for the first time in his career Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway.
Chastain earned the top spot in the final round of qualifying with a lap of 160.687 mph (29.797s). It is Chastain’s first career pole in 168 starts.
“Round 1 for us the last two years with the new car has been relatively, at times, strong, but qualifying as a whole has not been my strong suit in my life,” Chastain said. “So, all the work that’s gone into it with not a lot of payoff and reward. Even the times we do tie together Round 1, I’ve never been able to put Round 2 together in a way that I feel I did right. I usually over-drive and when I should just go the same speed or a little slower even and be fine, I usually slow down even more because I try to go faster.
“Today was all about minimizing the loss and Round 1, I felt pretty good. I over-slowed Turn 1, basically just slowed down too fast in Turn 1 and wanted to make that better. I have no idea if I did; I haven’t looked at any of the information, the data. We’re pretty pumped up we got this pole. I know I didn’t mess it up too bad, obviously. I ran basically the same lap time, which was really challenging with it getting really hotter and the second lap on tires.”
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Tyler Reddick qualified second. Reddick, who was the fastest in Friday’s practice session, clocked in at 159.573 mph.
Justin Haley qualified third at 159.557 mph. Not only is it a career-best qualifying effort for Haley, but the first time he’ll start a Cup Series race in the top five.
Joey Logano qualified fourth at 159.515 and William Byron qualified fifth at 159.398 mph. Martin Truex Jr. qualified sixth at 159.393 mph, Kyle Larson qualified seventh at 159.329 mph, and Denny Hamlin qualified eighth at 157.942 mph.
There were multiple single-car incidents in qualifying, centered on the trouble spot of Nashville at the exit of Turn 4.
The final driver to take a time in the final round of qualifying, Bubba Wallace, spun coming to complete his lap. Wallace kept the car off the wall and slid through the infield grass. Wallace’s qualifying lap was 128.471 mph.
Daniel Suarez, who was fastest in the first round of qualifying, also spun off Turn 4 in the second round of qualifying. Suarez was coming to the green flag to start his qualifying lap when the car broke free through the corner, sending Suarez into a spin and hitting the outside wall with the left rear and left front.
Suarez hopes his Trackhouse Racing team can repair the primary car because of how strong it is. However, that remains still to be determined. He will have to start at the rear of the field regardless because of repairs.
Defending race winner Chase Elliott qualified 14th. Elliott ran a lap of 159.637 mph.
Corey LaJoie spun in the first round of qualifying off the corner, hitting the outside wall with the rear bumper. LaJoie then slid down into the frontstretch grass.
UP NEXT: The Ally 400 starts at 7pm ET Sunday on NBC.