With a lap of 200.505 mph, Ryan Blaney won the pole for Sunday’s Cup race at Texas. This is Blaney’s sixth consecutive top-10 start at Texas, but his first pole. He qualified second last spring before finishing 12th.
Blaney’s speed is the second fastest pole ever on a 1.5-mile track behind Kurt Busch (200.915 mph, Texas November 2017).
Clint Bowyer (200.230) was the only other driver to crack the 200 mph mark. Bowyer started third at Texas this spring before finishing ninth.
Kevin Harvick (199.941), Aric Almirola (199.778) and Brad Keselowski (199.527) rounded out the top five.
Other playoff contenders Kurt Busch (199.225) qualified seventh, Joey Logano (199.086) qualified eighth and Kyle Busch (198.705) qualified 10th.
Missing the final round of time trials, playoff contender Martin Truex Jr. (197.962) qualified 13th.
Chase Elliott was the slowest among playoff contenders. His speed of 197.686 mph puts him 16th on the grid. In five starts at Texas, he has started 20th or worse three times but has never finished lower than 11th.
Trying to advance into the Round 2, David Ragan spun into the infield after exiting Turn 4.
The No. 66 entry of Timmy Hill was withdrawn before qualification started.