NASCAR Cup Series at Watkins Glen starting lineup: Chase Elliott wins third pole of 2022

Elliott now enters five-way tie for the most poles of any driver this season.

By Steven Taranto

Aug 20, 2022 at 3:01 pm ET • 2 min read

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Chase Elliott won the pole for the Go Bowling at the Glen on Saturday afternoon, posting a lap of 1:10.477 (125.147 MPH) in the final round of qualifying to earn his third pole of the 2022 season and his second on a road course. Elliott led a Hendrick Motorsports sweep of the front row, as he will be joined in Row 1 by teammate Kyle Larson.

Elliott's first two poles of the season came at Martinsville Speedway and Road America, and he now enters a five-way tie for the most poles this season. Elliott, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, and Denny Hamlin all have three poles to their credit.

A considerable amount of attention was paid to former F1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen, who leads an international contingent of drivers in making his NASCAR Cup Series debut. After posting the 10th-fastest time in Group B practice, Raikkonen qualified 27th for his first Cup start and his first stock car race in 11 years. Raikkonen led a group that included Germany's Mike Rockenfeller (33rd), Loris Hezemans of the Netherlands (34th), Russia's Daniil Kvyat (36th), and England's Kyle Tilley, who will start 37th after crashing in the bus stop during his qualifying run.

Group B practice saw two Toyota drivers find trouble in separate incidents: Christopher Bell lost an engine and came to a stop in the esses just as Ty Gibbs got sideways coming out of the bus stop and slid off-course, hitting the barrier in Turn 5 on the driver's side. Gibbs was able to recover and return to the track for qualifying, while Bell will start 38th after being unable to make a qualifying attempt. Cody Ware also did not make a qualifying run after allegedly losing a piece of ballast in practice, which would be a four-race suspension to his crew chief, car chief, and engineer.

In addition to Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch will also reportedly make an engine change after qualifying, meaning that he will drop to the rear of the field for Sunday's race.

While Kyle Larson qualified second, his No. 5 Chevrolet was the lone car to fail pre-qualifying tech inspection twice. As a result, Larson's team has lost pit selection and had a crewmember ejected from the race weekend.