After nearly two months without a pole, the pole king of 2025 got his seventh of the season Saturday at Kansas. He was the only driver to average better than 180 mph.
Denny Hamlin, Briscoe’s teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, was next fastest and will start alongside Briscoe Sunday for the start of the Hollywood Casino 400.
As for qualifying’s effect on the racing at Kansas, recent trends show there are no trends at the 1½-mile oval.
Back in May at Kansas, Kyle Larson won the pole and then dominated the AdventHealth 400 the next day.
A year ago at this particular playoff race, Ross Chastain won from the 20th starting position.
Will Sunday’s winner come from the current 12-driver playoff roster? Last week, playoff racer Ryan Blaney won at New Hampshire and earned automatic entry into the Round of 8, which starts in two weeks. The other 11 current playoff contenders will try to do the same Sunday in the Hollywood Casino 400.
Blaney will have a hard time going back-to-back this week. He smacked the wall during practice Saturday and did enough damage that he didn’t take a qualifying lap.
Top 10 NASCAR speeds at Kansas
Chase Briscoe: 180.078
Denny Hamlin: 179.474
Kyle Larson: 179.396
Chase Elliott: 179.063
Christopher Bell: 179.015
Carson Hocevar: 178.642
Bubba Wallace: 178.371
Ty Gibbs: 178.283
Ross Chastain: 178.265
Erik Jones: 178.136
NASCAR playoff race lineup at Kansas
How to watch the Kansas race
Time, channel for NASCAR at Kansas
Saturday, 4 p.m.: Xfinity Series, Kansas Lottery 300 (CW).
Sunday, 3 p.m.: Cup Series, Hollywood Casino 400 (USA).
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR qualifying results set starting lineup for Sunday race at Kansas Speedway
Reporting by Ken Willis, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
