NASCAR Cup Pocono: Ty Gibbs beats William Byron to pole position

One week after qualifying second at the Chicago Street Course, Gibbs – the last car to go out in the final round of qualifying on Saturday, bested that effort by one spot by laying down a blistering lap at 170.039 mph.

Gibbs just edged William Byron (169.661 mph) to take the top starting position in Sunday’s race at Pocono Raceway and his third consecutive top-10 start.

Gibbs now has two career poles, both coming this season.

“We were really close last weekend. We were second (to Kyle Larson),” Gibbs said. “We’ve been really fast this weekend. The car is really good and I think we’ll be really good tomorrow.”

Martin Truex Jr. – also looking for his first win of the season – will line up third, Denny Hamlin fourth and Josh Berry fifth.

Completing the top 10 are last week’s race winner Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, rookie Zane Smith and Joey Logano.

In all, Toyota drivers claimed three of the top five starting positions and four of the top seven.

Round 1 / Group B

Gibbs led the second group with an average lap speed of 169.310 mph.

Reddick, fastest in Saturday’s practice, was second quick (169.087 mph) and Berry was third fastest (169.043 mph).

Also moving on to the final round of qualifying were Truex and Smith.

Among those who failed to advance were Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain and Bubba Wallace.

Round 1 / Group A

Bowman, who ended an 80-race winless streak with his victory last weekend at the Chicago Street Course, led the way in the first group with an average lap speed of 170.136 mph – the fastest lap of the day at the time.

His Hendrick team-mate Byron ended up second quick (169.795 mph) while last year’s race winner, Hamlin, was third (169.202 mph).

Also advancing to the final round of qualifying were Blaney and Logano.

Among those who failed to move on were Kyle Larson, who spun in practice earlier Saturday, Brad Keselowski and Daniel Suarez.