Fords dominate Gateway Cup qualifying with Briscoe on pole

Briscoe was fastest in Round 1 of qualifying on Saturday and did it again in Round 2, as his average lap speed of 138.274 mph topped fellow Ford driver Austin Cindric for the pole in Sunday’s inaugural Cup race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

Perhaps it shouldn’t be much of a surprise as many drivers have compared the 1.25-mile fairly flat oval at Gateway with Phoenix, the site of Briscoe’s first win this year.

“It’s funny, the first round I thought I under-drove it extremely bad and the second round I over-drove. I got really loose into (Turn) 3 and thought I gave away any advantage I had through (Turns) 1 and 2,” said Briscoe, in his sophomore Cup season with Stewart-Haas Racing.

“We were obviously really good at Phoenix and we’ve got a pretty close package to that so we’ll see if we can have the same result as Phoenix. Obviously, we’ve got the best starting spot for that and I’m really looking forward to tomorrow, for sure.”

Cindric ended up second (137.775 mph) while Christopher Bell ended up third (137.560 mph). Tyler Reddick was fourth and Ryan Blaney fifth.

Completing the top-10 starting lineup are Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano (who topped practice on Friday), Aric Almirola, Harrison Burton and Ross Chastain, as Fords claimed six of the top-10 starting positions.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	14	Chase Briscoe		Ford	1	32.544			138.274
2	2	Austin Cindric		Ford	1	32.662	0.118	0.118	137.775
3	20	Christopher Bell		Toyota	1	32.713	0.169	0.051	137.560
4	8	Tyler Reddick		Chevrolet	1	32.724	0.180	0.011	137.514
5	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	1	32.735	0.191	0.011	137.468
6	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	1	32.760	0.216	0.025	137.363
7	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	1	32.820	0.276	0.060	137.112
8	22	Joey Logano		Ford	1	32.820	0.276	0.000	137.112
9	21	Harrison Burton		Ford	1	32.828	0.284	0.008	137.078
10	1	Ross Chastain		Chevrolet	1	32.870	0.326	0.042	136.903

Round 1 / Group B

Logano, who was fastest in practice on Friday, led the way in Group B with an average lap speed of 138.016 mph.

Reddick ended up second (137.800 mph) and Bell was third (137.602 mph). Blaney and Hamlin also advanced to the final round of qualifying to compete for the pole.

Among those who failed to move on were Kurt Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Bubba Wallace.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	22	Joey Logano		Ford	1	32.605			138.016
2	8	Tyler Reddick		Chevrolet	1	32.656	0.051	0.051	137.800
3	20	Christopher Bell		Toyota	1	32.703	0.098	0.047	137.602
4	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	1	32.719	0.114	0.016	137.535
5	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	1	32.762	0.157	0.043	137.354
6	45	Kurt Busch		Toyota	1	32.803	0.198	0.041	137.183
7	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	1	32.827	0.222	0.024	137.082
8	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	1	32.868	0.263	0.041	136.911
9	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	1	32.941	0.336	0.073	136.608
10	23	Bubba Wallace		Toyota	1	32.977	0.372	0.036	136.459
11	7	Corey Lajoie		Chevrolet	1	32.997	0.392	0.020	136.376
12	38	Todd Gilliland		Ford	1	33.055	0.450	0.058	136.137
13	99	Daniel Suarez		Chevrolet	1	33.088	0.483	0.033	136.001
14	42	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	1	33.285	0.680	0.197	135.196
15	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Chevrolet	1	33.299	0.694	0.014	135.139
16	31	Justin Haley		Chevrolet	1	33.339	0.734	0.040	134.977
17	77	Josh Bilicki		Chevrolet	1	33.744	1.139	0.405	133.357
18	78	B.J. McLeod		Ford	1	34.477	1.872	0.733	130.522

Round 1 / Group A

Briscoe was the last car to attempt to qualify in Group A and rocketed to the top of the chart with an average lap speed of 138.342 mph.

Cindric, who led most of the session, was second (137.208 mph) and Almirola third (137.137 mph). Also advancing to Round 2 were Burton and Chastain.

“It’s really neat, you know. Qualifying for us has been sort of a weak point this year,” Burton said. “We’re making gains on it.”

Among those who failed to advance were Cole Custer and three Hendrick cars – Kyle Larson, William Byron and Alex Bowman.

Parker Kligerman and Ben Rhodes (driving for A.J. Allmendinger) did not attempt to qualify as both teams were still repairing damage from incidents during practice on Friday.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	14	Chase Briscoe		Ford	1	32.528			138.342
2	2	Austin Cindric		Ford	1	32.797	0.269	0.269	137.208
3	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	1	32.814	0.286	0.017	137.137
4	21	Harrison Burton		Ford	1	32.877	0.349	0.063	136.874
5	1	Ross Chastain		Chevrolet	1	32.904	0.376	0.027	136.761
6	41	Cole Custer		Ford	1	32.932	0.404	0.028	136.645
7	5	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	1	32.939	0.411	0.007	136.616
8	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	1	32.960	0.432	0.021	136.529
9	43	Erik Jones		Chevrolet	1	33.019	0.491	0.059	136.285
10	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	1	33.019	0.491	0.000	136.285
11	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	1	33.112	0.584	0.093	135.902
12	48	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	1	33.150	0.622	0.038	135.747
13	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	1	33.415	0.887	0.265	134.670
14	6	Brad Keselowski		Ford	1	33.575	1.047	0.160	134.028
15	51	Cody Ware		Ford	1	33.625	1.097	0.050	133.829
16	17	Zane Smith		Ford	1	33.671	1.143	0.046	133.646
17	15	Parker Kligerman		Ford
18	16	Ben Rhodes		Chevrolet