Chase Briscoe’s outing at Kansas Speedway could not have gotten off to a better start as he snatched his seventh pole of the season, finishing narrowly ahead of Denny Hamlin.
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Briscoe, sitting eighth in the Round of 12 standings, clocked a lap time of 29.987 seconds, topping 180 mph on the 1.5-mile oval. Hamlin, the winningest active driver at the track, came close but had to settle for second at 179.474 mph, missing the mark by 0.101 seconds.
For Briscoe, it marked his first pole at Kansas and the ninth of his Cup career. What surprised him most was the drop in qualifying speeds compared to May, when Kyle Larson set the bar at 183.730 mph. This time, no one in the field could hold it wide open through Turns 1 and 2. Briscoe credited his team for giving him a fast car.
On his approach to qualifying, Briscoe admitted his style is more instinct than calculation. “I don’t know. I don’t use markers, I just go out there and go wide open until I feel like I need to list, and once I go back to the gas, I go back to the gas, and sometimes I mess it up. I mess it up more often than not, truthfully.”
“I don’t ever have a preconceived notion by watching videos of where I need to lift, I just go out there and drive it to the limit, and if it’s good enough, it’s good enough. And sometimes I leave a little bit on the table, or I overdo it, 99% of the time I overdo it,” the Joe Gibbs Racing driver continued.
Even with the pole, Briscoe deflected credit to the strength of the entire Joe Gibbs Racing camp. Alongside his No. 19 Toyota, Hamlin will start on the front row, Christopher Bell qualified fifth, and Ty Gibbs showed strong speed as well. According to Briscoe, the JGR cars are performing at a high level, and when the cars are that good, it allows the drivers to be more aggressive.
Behind them, Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott locked down third and fourth at 179.396 and 179.063 mph, respectively. Ryan Blaney, fresh off his New Hampshire win, did not record a qualifying lap and will start 37th.
Defending series champion Joey Logano also ran into trouble, dealing with a right-side tire issue in practice that left him 35th on the grid.
It capped a rough day for Team Penske’s playoff trio. Blaney wrecked in practice after a right-rear tire failure sent him into the outside wall, while both Logano and Austin Cindric struggled to find grip throughout the session. For Briscoe and Hamlin, however, the front row at Kansas signals they’re ready to lead the charge when the green flag drops.
