Ryan Blaney secures first Cup pole since August with impressive performance at Bristol
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Ryan Blaney secured his first pole position in the NASCAR Cup Series since last August, displacing points leader Tyler Reddick from the top qualifying spot on Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Blaney recorded a lap at 127.064 mph, marking his first-place qualification for the 13th time in 386 career starts. His last pole position was 19 races ago at Watkins Glen International during the previous season.
The Team Penske driver also achieved pole position at Bristol two years prior. He has led a total of 585 laps at this venue, the highest for any Cup driver without a victory on the 0.533-mile track.
“Cool start to the weekend,” remarked the 2023 Cup champion. “Now we’ve got to do it for 500 laps. Should be fun. I think we’re going to have a handful, and everyone’s going to be like that keeping up with the racetrack.”
Reddick, who has won four of the first six races this season, achieved a career-best second place at Bristol, improving from a previous best of 12th in nine prior starts.
“We got into Turn 3 on the money lap pretty good, and I just overshot it a little bit with a big correction,” explained the 23XI Racing driver, who has 12 career victories but is aiming for his first win at a short track in NASCAR’s top series. “I was worried that I left some on the table there, and that’s definitely where we gave it up to (Blaney).”
Chase Briscoe qualified in third place, followed by Riley Herbst and Ty Gibbs, as Toyotas occupied the four starting positions behind Blaney’s No. 12 Ford.
Ross Chastain qualified sixth but lost his choice of pit selection and had a crew member ejected after his No. 1 Chevrolet failed inspection twice. Kyle Larson faced the same penalty, qualifying eighth after his No. 5 Chevy also failed inspection twice.
Alex Bowman qualified 27th in his return after missing four races due to vertigo.
Source: espn.com
