Daniel Suarez will have the best view of Turn 1 at the start of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, having earned the pole for the Verizon 200 — going fastest in qualifying at 99.814mph. It is his third career pole.
Tyler Reddick, who won at Indianapolis last season, qualified second. His fast lap was 99.649mph.
Chase Elliott qualified third at 99.399mph and Michael McDowell qualified fourth at 99.288mph. Elliott and McDowell are two of the drivers to watch as the regular season winds down as both are outside the playoff grid. Whereas Elliott is in a seemingly must-win situation, McDowell is just three points below the cutline.
The driver sitting behind McDowell, ironically enough, is Suarez, five points below the cutline.
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Kyle Busch qualified fifth at 99.218mph, Kyle Larson sixth at 99.215mph and Christopher Bell seventh at 99.196mph.
Shane van Gisbergen qualified eighth for his second Cup Series start with a lap of 99.164mph.
Alex Bowman qualified ninth at 99.095mph and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top 10, also with a lap of 99.095mph. Gibbs holds the final spot on the playoff grid entering Indianapolis.
Brodie Kostecki slotted into 11th for his Cup Series debut, but his Richard Childress Racing team will be making repairs before Sunday’s race. The Australian got loose coming out of Turn 11 onto the oval and hit the outside wall with the left front.
Kamui Kobayashi ended up 28th for his Cup Series debut with 23XI Racing. Mike Rockenfeller qualified 37th in the No. 42 for Legacy Motor Club.
William Byron starts last after not being permitted to qualify. The No. 24 failed inspection three times, and he will also have to serve a pass-through after taking the green flag Sunday.