Byron earns Indianapolis pole
For the second time at a road course race in 2021, William Byron will start from the pole for Sunday’s Verizon 200 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Byron, who also won the pole at Road America, posted a time of 1 minute, 27.765 seconds, besting Chase Briscoe by 0.426 seconds.
Briscoe will start second. The Rookie of the Year candidate currently has three consecutive Top 10 finishes at road courses. He finished sixth at Circuit of the Americas and Road America and ninth at Watkins Glen.
The rest of the Top 12 is as follows: Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Daniel Suarez, Martin Truex Jr, Joey Logano, AJ Allmendinger, Ross Chastain, Cole Custer, Tyler Reddick, Michael McDowell.
McDowell can clinch a playoff spot in Sunday’s race with either a finish of 22nd or better, a win or a repeat winner earning the victory.
A scary moment happened in qualifying when Corey LaJoie had to avoid a safety truck during his warm-up lap. LaJoie avoided the truck and qualified 26th.
Bubble drivers Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick qualified 14th and 25th respectively.
Either driver can lock into the playoffs with a win. Hamlin can lock in with a repeat winner in today’s race.
The Verizon 200 at Indianapolis goes green just after 1 p.m. ET (TV: NBC; Radio: IMS Radio, 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