Ty Gibbs led a one-two of Charlotte natives in Coca-Cola 600 qualifying on Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Gibbs scorched Charlotte’s asphalt in the final round of time trials, using a 29.355-second lap averaging 183.955 miles per hour to score his first career NASCAR Cup Series pole by 0.06 seconds over William Byron.
Gibbs also won the pole for Saturday’s BetMGM 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series event, which saw the Joe Gibbs Racing driver finish ninth in the first 300 miles of his 900-mile racing weekend.
The remaining 600 miles will see Gibbs leading fellow Charlottean Byron to the green flag for Sunday’s 65th running of one of motorsports’ crown-jewel events. Christopher Bell will roll off third on Sunday with Martin Truex Jr. fourth and Chase Elliott, Saturday’s BetMGM 300 winner, fifth.
Alex Bowman was sixth-quickest in qualifying, followed by Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick and Michael McDowell.
Kyle Larson — the first driver since 2014 to attempt to win the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day — qualified 10th. Defending Coca-Cola 600 winner Ryan Blaney was 16th.
NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Jimmie Johnson qualified 29th for his attempt at a record-tying fifth Coca-Cola 600 victory.
TY GIBBS, NO. 54 JOE GIBBS RACING TOYOTA (POLE WINNER): “I feel like it was a really easy, clean lap. My car was handling really well, so I just had to be very disciplined. Being able to start up front is really nice and having that first pit stall is great, also. It’s cool to get the pole here for the first time for the Coca-Cola 600 but for me, the biggest thing is winning the race. This is great, but it doesn’t win us the race. It’d be really cool (to win on Sunday). One of my first two (NASCAR Xfinity Series) wins came here in 2021 at my home track.”
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