KANSAS CITY, Kan. - If William Byron maintains his pace, he’s going to earn a nickname — as “Rocket Man” Ryan Newman did for his qualifying prowess.
With a lap at 179.206 mph (30.133 seconds) on Saturday afternoon at Kansas Speedway, Byron earned the pole position for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at the 1.5-mile intermediate track.
In an extremely tight final round, Byron edged teammate Kyle Larson (179.134 mph) by .006 seconds to earn the 10th Busch Light Pole Award of his career in 192 events, which included a stretch during the pandemic when qualifying did not take place.
Larson and teammate Chase Elliott (21st in qualifying) are the only Chevrolet drivers to win in the last 12 Cup races at Kansas.
The pole was Byron’s second of the season and his first at Kansas. Ross Chastain claimed the third starting spot with a lap at 179.134 mph, just .012 seconds behind Byron.
“I had to work on the balance (in practice) to get (the car) freer for qualifying, but it seemed like we did that there,” Byron said. “So really good through (turns) 1 and 2 and got a little tight through 3 and 4, so I’ve got some data to probably study of how I can get through that end.
“But I’m just proud of the effort from the whole team.”
Martin Truex, Jr., Monday’s winner at Dover Motor Speedway, qualified fourth, followed by Tyler Reddick, who is attempting to extend the two-race Kansas winning streak of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota. Kurt Busch and Bubba Wallace won in the car last season at the track on the Kansas side of the Missouri River.
Joey Logano, Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, Daniel Suarez and Ryan Blaney completed the top 10 in qualifying, which included an eclectic mix of four Chevrolets, four Toyotas and two Fords.
With hot weather predicted for Sunday, Byron spent the week preparing for the high temperatures on the track.
“Yeah, it’s going to be a scorcher, so I’m just trying to stay hydrated,” said Byron, who has never converted a Cup pole into a victory. “I did a lot of work throughout the week for that. Yeah, it’s going to be tough inside the car, so just got to stay mentally locked in and hopefully have a solid, smooth race, have good pit stops and good restarts.”
Byron said that, as part of his training for the heat, he stayed in the sauna until he couldn’t stand it. But some of that heat apparently transferred to his car during Saturday’s qualifying session.
WDUN will carry live MRN Radio coverage of Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Advent Health 400 from Kansas Speedway beginning at 2 pm on 102.9 FM, AM 550 and streaming live on AccessWDUN.
NASCAR Cup Series
Kansas Speedway – Kansas City, KS
Advent Health 400 – May 6, 2023
Saturday’s Qualifying Results
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
1. 24 William Byron Liberty University Chevrolet 30.133 179.206
2. 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 30.139 179.170
3. 1 Ross Chastain AdventHealth Chevrolet 30.145 179.134
4. 19 Martin Truex, Jr. Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota 30.181 178.921
5. 45 Tyler Reddick McDonald’s Toyota 30.210 178.749
6. 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 30.255 178.483
7. 54 Ty Gibbs # Monster Energy Toyota 30.269 178.400
8. 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Express Toyota 30.301 178.212
9. 99 Daniel Suarez Worldwide Express Chevrolet 30.384 177.725
10. 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Moen Ford 30.426 177.480
11. 3 Austin Dillon BetMGM Chevrolet 30.445 177.369
12. 20 Christopher Bell SiriusXM Toyota 30.450 177.340
13. 4 Kevin Harvick Busch Light #ForTheFarmers Ford 30.473 177.206
14. 17 Chris Buescher Fastenal/Body Guard Ford 30.473 177.206
15. 2 Austin Cindric Freightliner Ford 30.503 177.032
16. 8 Kyle Busch Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet 30.513 176.974
17. 23 Bubba Wallace Dr Pepper Zero Sugar Toyota 30.647 176.200
18. 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 30.730 175.724
19. 43 Erik Jones Allegiant Chevrolet 30.743 175.650
20. 6 Brad Keselowski King’s Hawaiian GoTG Vol 3 Ford 30.745 175.638
21. 9 Chase Elliott UniFirst Chevrolet 30.788 175.393
22. 42 Noah Gragson # Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet 30.799 175.330
23. 34 Michael McDowell Love’s Travel Stops Ford 30.838 175.109
24. 7 Corey LaJoie FOE Chevrolet 30.863 174.967
25. 21 Harrison Burton Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford 30.865 174.955
26. 77 Ty Dillon Ferris Commercial Mowers Chevrolet 30.920 174.644
27. 16 A.J. Allmendinger Action Industries Chevrolet 30.945 174.503
28. 41 Ryan Preece HaasTooling.com Ford 30.968 174.374
29. 48 Josh Berry(i) Ally Chevrolet 31.036 173.991
30. 31 Justin Haley Celsius Chevrolet 31.114 173.555
31. 14 Chase Briscoe Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford 31.149 173.360
32. 38 Todd Gilliland Speedy Cash Ford 31.236 172.877
33. 47 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Dillons/Kraft Mac & Cheese Chevrolet 31.421 171.860
34. 15 Brennan Poole(i) VDL Strong/go2mro.com/donate Ford 31.473 171.576
35. 51 J.J. Yeley(i) Biohaven/Jacob Co. Ford 31.602 170.875
36. 78 Josh Bilicki Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
http://accesswdun.com/article/2023/5/1182252/william-byron-edges-kyle-larson-for-kansas-cup-pole