Ryan Blaney earns the Ruoff Mortgage 500 pole at Phoenix
AVONDALE, ARIZ. – Ryan Blaney will lead the field to the green flag for Sunday’s Ruoff Mortgage 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
Blaney earned his 7th career NASCAR Cup Series pole during Saturday Busch pole qualifying. He ran a pole-winning time of 27.127 seconds/132.709 MPH average.
Blaney bested Denny Hamlin (27.2), William Byron (27.216), Christopher Bell (27.217), Aric Almirola (27.276), Chase Briscoe (27.284), Kyle Larson (27.285), Austin Cindric (27.299), Alex Bowman (27.320) and Joey Logano (27.709), who will start 10th in Sunday’s race.
Blaney tied Ward Burton, William Byron, Morgan Shepherd and Bob Welborn for 78th on the all-time NASCAR Cup Series poles list.
It is Blaney’s first pole since March 2019 at Phoenix. He finished 3rd and led 94 laps in that race.
Drivers missing the final round (Bold denotes Group B drivers) are as follows:
Kyle Busch (27.254 seconds)
Tyler Reddick (27.323)
Austin Dillon (27.360)
Erik Jones (27.466)
Kurt Busch (27.505)
Kevin Harvick (27.519)
Ross Chastain
Brad Keselowski (27.544)
Chase Elliott (27.586)
Martin Truex Jr. (27.602)
Ty Dillon (27.623)
Michael McDowell (27.663)
Daniel Suarez (27.669)
Harrison Burton (27.673)
Cole Custer (27.691)
Chris Buescher (27.714)
Bubba Wallace (27.738)
Justin Haley (27.765)
A.J. Allmendinger (27.806)
Corey LaJoie (28.046)
Landon Cassill (28.285)
Cody Ware (28.288)
Todd Gilliland (28.299)
B.J. McLeod (28.451)
Garrett Smithley (29.193)
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (No Time)
The NASCAR Cup SeriesRuoff Mortgage 500 at Phoenix Raceway goes green 3:30 p.m. ET (TV: FOX; Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com