INDIANAPOLIS — Five was the magic number for Toyota at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session for Sunday’s Brickyard 400.
Indiana native Chase Briscoe won his fifth pole of the season with a lap at 183.165 mph (49.136 seconds), edging Bubba Wallace of 23XI Racing (183.117 mph) for the top starting spot by 0.013 seconds.
Briscoe, driving the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Camry, and Wallace led a Toyota sweep of the first five starting positions, the first time the car maker has claimed the top five spots for any Cup Series race at any track.
Erik Jones of LEGACY Motor Club qualified third at 182.749 mph, followed by Tyler Reddick (182.678 mph) and Ty Gibbs (182.445 mph).
William Byron (182.031 mph) was sixth in the fastest Chevrolet, and seventh-place starter Chris Buescher led the Ford contingent with a lap at 182.013 mph.
In Sunday’s race, Briscoe will start from the front row for the seventh time this season, having been second on the grid for the previous two races, at Sonoma and Dover. Briscoe has claimed the Busch Light Pole Award for all three Crown Jewel races this season — the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600 and the Brickyard 400.
For a driver who spent his childhood as a spectator at Indianapolis, the pole is a dream fulfilled.
“I thought I was going to lose it a couple times, but I was able to hold onto it,” Briscoe said of his edgy qualifying lap. “I’m holding back tears. This is such a special moment for me. Even hearing the crowd as I got the pole is just super cool.
“Hopefully, I can keep it up there (Sunday). That’s the one that we want to win. … Just being from literally 70 miles down the road (in Mitchell, Ind.) and coming here as a kid … and just dreaming of being able to come to this place, sitting in the same grandstands as the fans are, I dreamed of being on the other side of the fence, and now to do that is just unbelievable.”
The seventh pole of Briscoe’s career wasn’t secure, however, until his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Denny Hamlin (the final qualifier) caromed off the Safer barrier in Turn 2 and nosed into the inside wall, destroying his No. 11 Camry.
Hamlin had an edge of more than 0.2 seconds over Briscoe through the first corner before his car stepped out in the second turn at the 2.5-mile track. Hamlin will start at the rear in a backup car on Sunday.
Gibbs will start 21 positions ahead of Ty Dillon as the two drivers battle for the $1 million top prize in the In-Season Challenge. The higher finisher will take home the check.
Series leader Chase Elliott made an adroit save in Turn 2 on his qualifying lap but lost time in the corner and will start 30th. Elliott has a 16-point lead over Byron with five races left in the regular season.
Wallace, the last driver above the current elimination line for the Cup Series Playoffs, will start Sunday’s race with a 16-point edge over Ryan Preece, who qualified 23rd.
Carson Hocevar, AJ Allmendinger and Austin Cindric completed the top 10 on the grid.
–By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service, Special to Field Level Media
