NASCAR Cup Series at Pocono starting lineup: William Byron steps up for his third pole of 2023

Byron found some extra speed in the final round of qualifying to beat both of the 23XI cars

By Steven Taranto

Jul 22, 2023 at 5:41 pm ET • 2 min read

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William Byron has won the pole for the HighPoint.com 400 at Pocono Raceway, posting a lap of 52.746 (170.629 mph) in the final round of qualifying to take his third pole of the 2023 season and his second career pole at Pocono. Byron previously won the pole at Pocono in June 2019.

In the context of Saturday's qualifying session, Byron's pole was a bit of an upset considering where it looked like qualifying was going. The two 23XI Racing cars looked to be the class of the field, with Tyler Reddick posting the fastest overall time in practice before he and teammate Bubba Wallace paced their respective groups in the first round of qualifying. However, neither would get off Turn 1 particularly well in the final round, especially not Wallace who brushed the wall and had to abort his pole run.

He just ran out of room!

Contact for the No. 23 in the final round! #BuschLightPole pic.twitter.com/ozsXmXfxj4
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 22, 2023

While Turn 1 was the trouble spot in the final round of qualifying, Pocono's notorious tunnel turn was calamity corner in the first round. The bumps in Turn 2 caused two separate spins in qualifying, with Todd Gilliland going around first before Chase Elliott went for a loop. Neither driver posted a lap of record and will start from the rear of the field.

Another one loses control off of the Tunnel Turn!

This time it's @chaseelliott! #BuschLightPole pic.twitter.com/kjuXDr9Kmh
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 22, 2023

The pleasant surprise of qualifying was Corey LaJoie, who posted an impressive lap of 53.197 to almost advance to the final round of qualifying for what would've been the first time in his career. LaJoie's 12th-place qualifying effort ties his second-best starting spot of his career, but it's his best ever starting spot earned in a time trial qualifying format.

The only car to have issues in pre-qualifying tech inspection was BJ McLeod's, as the No. 78 Chevrolet failed inspection twice. McLeod's car chief has been ejected from the race weekend and the team has lost pit selection.