NASCAR Cup Series at Bristol Dirt starting lineup: Kyle Larson wins pole after winning his Heat race

Larson won the pole by earning the most points of any driver in Saturday evening's Heat races

By Steven Taranto

Apr 8, 2023 at 7:44 pm ET • 1 min read

Getty Images

Kyle Larson won the pole for the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, earning the top starting spot by putting his dirt racing skills on full display during qualifying on Saturday evening. Larson went from sixth to first to win his Heat race, earning the most points (15) of any driver in the four Heats.

Austin Dillon, who won Heat 1, will join Larson on the outside pole in second. Ryan Blaney will start ninth after winning Heat 3, and Bubba Wallace will start 11th after winning Heat 4.

.@KyleLarsonRacin doing Kyle Larson things in Heat Race 3. pic.twitter.com/EYtTYSmdzg
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 8, 2023

The pleasant surprise of qualifying was Cup Series journeyman J.J. Yeley, an experienced dirt racer who powered his way from ninth to third in Heat 3 to qualify third. Yeley's qualifying effort marks the first time he's qualified in either the top five or top 10 since all the way back in 2007, when he qualified fourth at Phoenix driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. It is also the third-best qualifying effort of Yeley's entire 357-race Cup career -- he won the pole at Michigan in 2007 and qualified second at Texas that same year -- and the best starting spot in the history of Rick Ware Racing.

Elsewhere in the Rick Ware Racing camp, the team announced Saturday that Cody Ware would step away from racing this weekend in order to focus on a personal matter. Three-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Matt Crafton was tabbed as Ware's substitute and qualified 24th.

Dirt late model star Jonathan Davenport, making his first career Cup start driving for Kaulig Racing, qualified 21st.