NASCAR Cup Series driver William Byron may have captured the pole position for Sunday’s Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway, but could have lost a friend in the process.
“I don’t like William Byron anymore,” Joey Logano said with a laugh, as reported by NASCAR.com. “Man, that stinks. I just got through telling (crew chief) Paul (Wolfe) that it would really suck if the last car beat us.”
Well, that last car was Byron, who stole a milestone moment for Logano and Team Penske.
The Mooresville, N.C.-based organization has compiled 699 poles across all motorsports platforms. Logano wanted No. 700, but came up 0.035 seconds behind.
Byron recorded a hot lap of 133.68 mph, securing his 14 career Cup pole. He didn’t like his effort at the one-mile tri-oval, though.
“I did not hit my marks,” he said. “I was sideways and carried a ton of entry speed, missed the middle of the corner, and coming off the dogleg, I was so loose.
“I was just going to try to commit to the exits and see how much I could get out, even though I missed the center (of the turn).”
Byron enjoyed one advantage.
“Just a fast car,” he said. “Thanks to my whole team. They’ve been bringing fast cars and we’ve been doing a really good job of executing. So definitely want to go out there and have a great day tomorrow.”
With a pair of runner-up finishes in the season’s opening three races, Byron paces the circuit’s points standings. Logano will start in the front row for the third time in four outings this season.
https://twitter.com/STaranto92/status/1898478702293561594
Starting Lineup for NASCAR Cup Series’ Shriners Children’s 500
Here is a look at the lineup for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series’ Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway:
Starting Position, Driver, Car No.
- 1, William Byron, No. 24 Chevrolet
- 2, Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford
- 3, Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Chevrolet
- 4, Josh Berry, No. 21 Ford
- 5, Erik Jones, No. 43 Toyota
- 6, Chase Elliott, No. 9 Chevrolet
- 7, Michael McDowell, No. 71 Chevrolet
- 8, Justin Haley, No. 7 Chevrolet
- 9, Tyler Reddick, No. 45 Toyota
- 10, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota
- 11, Christopher Bell, No. 20 Toyota
- 12, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Ford
- 13, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Ford
- 14, Austin Cindric, No. 2 Ford
- 15, Kyle Busch, No. 8 Chevrolet
- 16, AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Chevrolet
- 17, Kyle Larson, No. 5 Chevrolet
- 18, Riley Herbst, No. 35 Toyota
- 19, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Toyota
- 20, Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Ford
- 21, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet
- 22, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Chevrolet
- 23, Cole Custer, No. 41 Ford
- 24, Ross Chastain, No. 1 Chevrolet
- 25, Ty Dillon, No. 10 Chevrolet
- 26, Zane Smith, No. 38 Ford
- 27, Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Ford
- 28, Ryan Preece, No. 60 Ford
- 29, Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Chevrolet
- 30, Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Toyota
- 31, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Chevrolet
- 32, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Chevrolet
- 33, Noah Gragson, No. 4 Ford
- 34, Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Toyota
- 35, Cody Ware, No. 51 Ford
- 36, John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Toyota
- 37, Katherine Legge, No. 78 Chevrolet
https://twitter.com/OnHerTurf/status/1898155670865641706
