NASCAR Cup: Ryan Blaney on pole at Phoenix

By AMANDA VINCENT

Ryan Blaney posted a 27.127-second/132.709 mph lap in the second of two rounds of qualifying at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday to claim the pole for Sunday’s Ruoff Mortgage 500.

“I thought it was a pretty decent lap,” Blaney said. “You just hope you make the right changes to try to get a little bit better and everyone else is trying to do the same thing. I got a little bit tight in (turns) three and four and that worried me a little bit, but overall, the car had great speed in it and has had really good speed all day. I appreciate everyone’s help. It is a nice place to start for tomorrow.”

Blaney will share the front row with Denny Hamlin.

Both Blaney and Hamlin advanced to the 10-driver second round of qualifying from the second group of qualifiers in round one. William Byron was fastest in the second group in round one to advance to the final round and, ultimately, qualified third.

Christopher Bell was the only Toyota driver other than Hamlin to advance to the second round and qualified fourth. Aric Almirola claimed the fifth starting spot for Sunday’s race.

Other drivers advancing to the second round of qualifying and claiming top-10 positions on the Phoenix starting grid include Chase Briscoe in sixth, Kyle Larson in seventh, Austin Cindric in eighth, Alex Bowman in ninth and Joey Logano in 10th.

Larson, though, will have to drop to the back for the start of Sunday’s race as a result of his team repairing a steering issue after qualifying.

Below is the starting grid for the Ruoff Mortgage 500:

Posted by Amanda on March 13, 2022. Filed under Breaking News,Cup Series,Featured,NASCAR. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.