Kyle Larson was the fastest in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series qualifying for the next day’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, while Riley Herbst has enjoyed a dominant pre-race weekend as he led Xfinity Series qualifying a day after doing the same in practice.
Larson set a fastest lap time of 29.953 seconds at 180.282 mph to beat Ricky Stenhouse Jr. by a Bond-esque .007 in both categories. It is Larson’s ninth career earned Cup pole, his first since Sonoma in 2019 (though he sat out much of 2020 due to suspension and most races since have been non-qualifying events), and his first on a 1.5-mile track. All but two of his poles (Auto Club and Michigan in 2017) have come on non-traditional oval tracks. Prior to the pole, he had never started higher than ninth at Charlotte (2015).
For Stenhouse, he records his fourth front-row start at a 1.5-miler and his first since the 2019 Atlanta spring race. His previous best at Charlotte was third in 2016.
Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports team-mates Chase Elliott and William Byron make up the second row, while the fourth driver Alex Bowman was seventh. Austin Dillon, who led Friday Cup practice, was sixth. David Starr qualified thirty-eighth and last for his first Cup start of the year.
At the Xfinity level, where the Alsco Uniforms 300 is held later in the day, Herbst led a Ford front row with a time of 29.350 seconds at 183.986 mph for his first career pole. His previous best was fourth in the season opener at Daytona, while he started on the pole at Richmond in 2019 after qualifying was rained out.
Chase Briscoe, who won an Xfinity Series-high nine races in 2020 in Herbst’s #98 Stewart-Haas Racing ride, qualified second in his return to the series; his run marked B.J. McLeod Motorsports‘s first top-two start, with the team’s previous best qualifying effort being twelfth by Briscoe’s Cup team-mate Kevin Harvick the previous week at COTA.
McLeod’s newly introduced #76 car driven by Stefan Parsons qualified twenty-first. Camping World Truck Series veteran Grant Enfinger, who finished fourteenth in Friday’s race, made the field via owner points and will begin his Xfinity début in thirty-fifth; Enfinger was tasked with the #26 Sam Hunt Racing Toyota as the original driver Brandon Gdovic, who has not raced at a 1.5-miler since 2015, expressed doubt that he could qualify on time.
Despite his team’s strong performances in the session, McLeod was not as fortunate as he failed to qualify in DGM Racing’s #90. Joining him in missing the race are Starr, Dillon Bassett, Kyle Weatherman, Joe Graf Jr., Gray Gaulding, and Bayley Currey.
Cup qualifying results
Position | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Best Time | Best Speed (mph) |
1 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 29.953 | 180.282 |
2 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 29.960 | 180.240 |
3 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 29.969 | 180.186 |
4 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 29.970 | 180.180 |
5 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 29.993 | 180.042 |
6 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 30.029 | 179.826 |
7 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30.045 | 179.730 |
8 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 30.064 | 179.617 |
9 | 99 | Daniel Suárez | Trackhouse Racing Team | Chevrolet | 30.069 | 179.587 |
10 | 42 | Ross Chastain | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 30.072 | 179.569 |
11 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford | 30.090 | 179.462 |
12 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 30.090 | 179.462 |
13 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 30.111 | 179.336 |
14 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 30.112 | 179.330 |
15 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 30.143 | 179.146 |
16 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 30.146 | 179.128 |
17 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 30.159 | 179.051 |
18 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing | Toyota | 30.207 | 178.767 |
19 | 43 | Erik Jones | Richard Petty Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30.231 | 178.625 |
20 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 30.241 | 178.566 |
21 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 30.270 | 178.394 |
22 | 21 | Matt DiBenedetto | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 30.274 | 178.371 |
23 | 41 | Cole Custer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 30.298 | 178.230 |
24 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 30.323 | 178.083 |
25 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 30.325 | 178.071 |
26 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30.330 | 178.042 |
27 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 30.336 | 178.006 |
28 | 37 | Ryan Preece | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 30.402 | 177.620 |
29 | 38 | Anthony Alfredo | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 30.415 | 177.544 |
30 | 77 | Justin Haley* | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30.708 | 175.850 |
31 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 30.834 | 175.131 |
32 | 00 | Quin Houff | StarCom Racing | Chevrolet | 30.939 | 174.537 |
33 | 78 | B.J. McLeod* | Live Fast Motorsports | Ford | 30.952 | 174.464 |
34 | 53 | Cody Ware* | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet | 30.971 | 174.357 |
35 | 15 | James Davison | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet | 31.493 | 171.467 |
36 | 51 | Garrett Smithley* | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet | 31.499 | 171.434 |
37 | 52 | Josh Bilicki | Rick Ware Racing | Ford | 31.569 | 171.054 |
38 | 66 | David Starr* | MBM Motorsports | Toyota | 33.071 | 163.285 |
* – Ineligible for Cup points
Xfinity
Position | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Best Time | Best Speed (mph) |
1 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 29.350 | 183.986 |
2 | 99 | Chase Briscoe* | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Ford | 29.727 | 181.653 |
3 | 18 | Daniel Hemric | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 29.814 | 181.123 |
4 | 22 | Austin Cindric | Team Penske | Ford | 29.855 | 180.874 |
5 | 16 | A.J. Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 30.068 | 179.593 |
6 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Jeremy Clements Racing | Chevrolet | 30.097 | 179.420 |
7 | 2 | Myatt Snider | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 30.113 | 179.325 |
8 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 30.127 | 179.241 |
9 | 10 | Jeb Burton | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 30.173 | 178.968 |
10 | 23 | Ty Dillon | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30.207 | 178.767 |
11 | 11 | Justin Haley | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 30.260 | 178.453 |
12 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | RSS Racing | Ford | 30.286 | 178.300 |
13 | 20 | Harrison Burton | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 30.291 | 178.271 |
14 | 19 | Brandon Jones | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 30.304 | 178.194 |
15 | 02 | Brett Moffitt | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30.317 | 178.118 |
16 | 31 | Tyler Reddick* | Jordan Anderson Racing | Chevrolet | 30.374 | 177.784 |
17 | 0 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30.380 | 177.749 |
18 | 8 | Josh Berry | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30.383 | 177.731 |
19 | 1 | Michael Annett | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30.465 | 177.253 |
20 | 4 | Ryan Vargas | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30.523 | 176.916 |
21 | 76 | Stefan Parsons | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30.524 | 176.910 |
22 | 13 | Chad Finchum | MBM Motorsports | Toyota | 30.525 | 176.904 |
23 | 9 | Noah Gragson | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30.527 | 176.893 |
24 | 5 | Matt Mills | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30.646 | 176.206 |
25 | 48 | Jade Buford | Big Machine Racing | Chevrolet | 30.665 | 176.097 |
26 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30.700 | 175.896 |
27 | 44 | Tommy Joe Martins | Martins Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30.727 | 175.741 |
28 | 6 | Landon Cassill | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30.731 | 175.718 |
29 | 15 | Colby Howard | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30.797 | 175.342 |
30 | 78 | Jesse Little | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Toyota | 30.824 | 175.188 |
31 | 17 | Cody Ware | SS-Green Light Racing | Toyota | 30.827 | 175.171 |
32 | 68 | Brandon Brown | Brandonbilt Motorsports | Chevrolet | Owner Points | Owner Points |
33 | 36 | Alex Labbé | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | Owner Points | Owner Points |
34 | 92 | Josh Williams | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | Owner Points | Owner Points |
35 | 26 | Grant Enfinger* | Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota | Owner Points | Owner Points |
36 | 66 | Timmy Hill* | MBM Motorsports | Toyota | Owner Points | Owner Points |
* – Ineligible for Xfinity points