William Byron earns NASCAR Cup pole over Logano at Phoenix

After a 45-minute practice session where teams were granted the opportunity to get a a feel for the multiple tire compounds being utilized this weekend, it was time to qualify. The format was a single round with one flying lap per driver, and the pole wasn’t decided until the 37th and final driver on track.

William Byron was that last driver to put down a qualifying lap, rocketing to the top of the charts as the only driver under 27 seconds. He dethroned Joey Logano, who was hoping to earn Penske’s 700th pole across all of their motorsports endeavors.

It didn’t feel like a pole-winning lap

“I did not hit my marks,” admitted Byron despite securing pole position. “I was sideways. I just carried a ton of entry speed. I felt like I missed the middle of the corner and had just come off the dogleg (where) I was so loose. I was just going to try and commit to the exits and see how much I could get out of the exits, even though I missed the center.”

Byron, who now has 14 career Cup Series poles, later added: “I’m still shaking. I can’t believe — that did not feel like a good lap, but I just committed to it and the grip was there.”

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Chris Graythen – Getty Images

Logano is a four-time winner at Phoenix and the most recent winner as well, taking the checkered flag in November on his way to his third Cup Series title. He was watching from atop the Team Penske hauler as Byron wheeled his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to the top of the charts in the final moments of qualifying. In the end, nearly a full tenth separated the two drivers (0.098s).

“I don’t like William Byron anymore,” joked Logano. “Man, that stinks. I just got done saying that it would really suck if the last car beat us and that’s what happened. That was going to be Penske’s 700th pole across all of motorsports, but we’ll have to go try and do that next week.”

Spire impresses as others stumble

While Byron was impressed, it was Spire Motorsports who truly turned heads with all three of their drivers starting in the first four rows. Carson Hocevar — who also led practice — was the top Spire driver in third. He was ahead of Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry in fourth and Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones in fifth.

Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell, Justin Haley, Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-ten.

Several drivers found themselves losing a lot of time as the cars got loose through Turns 1 and 2, including Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman, John-Hunter Nemechek and Noah Gragson.  It proved costly as Larson was the only one of them to even qualify inside the top-20.

Christopher Bell, who is hunting a third consecutive Cup win this weekend, was a threat for a pole before his own bubble entering the final corner dropped him down to 11th.

Of note, Katherine Legge is making her Cup Series debut this weekend and is the first woman to take part in a Cup race since Danica Patrick ran the 2018 Daytona 500 seven years ago. She qualified 37th and will start the race from the very rear of the field. When she takes the green flag, she will officially become the 17th female racer to compete at the highest level of stock car racing.

Photos from Phoenix – Practice & Qualifying