WATKINS GLEN, NY: –NASCAR Cup Series championship leader Chase Elliott won the pole position for Sunday’s Go Bowling at the Glen at Wakins Glen (N.Y.) International (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) making a strong statement for his championship chases as the regular season winds down.
Elliott turned a lap of 125.147 mph around the 3.377-mile road course in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet besting his teammate, reigning series champion Kyle Larson by a slight .015-seconds to claim his third pole position of the season and the 12th of this career.
It is a fitting front row for the race start with Elliott and Larson combining for five road course wins just last year. Elliott is a two-time Watkins Glen winner – earning his career first trophy there in 2018 with seven road course victories. Larson is the defending race winner.
“I feel like there’s still work to do there from where we were in practice,’’ the 26-year old Elliott said. “Feel like there’s a couple parts of the track I want to put together better. Just really hard to hit all of it. It’s just so fast. The pace is just so high in this car here.
“I feel like from what I remember with so much throttle you’re carrying, a little bit really goes a long way.’’
Former DAYTONA 500 winner and road course ace Michael McDowell will share the second row with another Hendrick driver, William Byron. Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick – who won the series’ last road course event at Indianapolis three weeks ago – was fifth fastest and will start alongside Xfinity Series championship contender A.J. Allmendinger.
Ford drivers Chris Buescher and rookie Austin Cindric make up row eight followed by Daniel Suárez and the top-qualifying Toyota driven by Kyle Busch.
Also of note, Christopher Bell had engine issues during practice and was unable to make a qualifying run so he will start 38th in the 39-car field.
Longtime sports car ace, Joey Hand earned a 17th place qualifying position in the No. 15 Ford. Former Formula One world champion Kimi Räikkönen will roll off from 27th position on the grid in his first NASCAR Cup Series start. Another former F1 driver, Daniel Kvyat will start 36th.
Räikkönen CUP DEBUT
This weekend marks the highly-anticipated NASCAR Cup Series debut for the former Formula One driver Räikkönen, who will be driving the No. 91 Project 91 Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing.
The 41-year old former world champion was careful to be modest and realistic in his expectations for the race, considering he has had only limited track time in a NASCAR Cup Series car. He was allotted a practice session last week at Virginia International Raceway – not in a Trackhouse car – and of course, had a single practice session and qualifying at Watkins Glen on Saturday.
The Finnish driver, who has two previous career NASCAR starts – in the Camping World Truck Series and Xfinity Series in 2011 – was a respectable 13th fastest in the Group B qualifying session and will start the No. 91 Chevy from 27th position.
“Obviously, I wish I had more laps, I’m not sure what line to take and trying to put laps together,’’ Räikkönen said after qualifying, “But it was fun.”
“We’ve just to make sure we know the rules and not making any silly mistakes on that side,’’ he added. “We’ll see what we can do with the car and move up from where we started.’’
It was typical of the measured approach the 2007 F1 World Champion.
“It’s a new experience,’’ Räikkönen said in a trackside press conference prior to qualifying on Saturday. “I don’t know how it’s going to go but I think it’s just a nice challenge. We’ve had limited running of the car and we’ll have a very short practice here, so that will be tricky. It’ll be quite a challenge but it’s also exciting.
“We’ll see where we stack up. There are very fast guys here that have been doing this for years, so it will be very hard. But we’ll see what we can do.’’
Asked why he is making this stock car start on another continent after such an illustrious open-wheel career, Räikkönen smiled a little at the implication it could somehow tarnish his great career if he didn’t do well.
“I don’t see any risk. … why not [try something new],’’ Räikkönen said. “What do I have to lose? If I do bad in a NASCAR race or bad in any race, I don’t care because I do it for myself. A good or bad end result, it could happen even if I did 20 races. They all could be bad for many different reasons.
“I don’t see any negative. I think it’s great what Justin (Marks) and the team is doing giving a chance for all of us from Europe. … NASCAR is more known there, but I’m sure there are a lot of driers that would like to have a chance to try it. It’s not very easy, so maybe it will open some doors in the future for more chances to try and get more Europeans into the sport.’’
While Räikkönen was careful not to create any unrealistic expectations, his team owner Justin Marks was optimistic.
“For expectations, the speed is going to be there, the preparation is going to be there, the fitness is going to be there, all of that,’’ Marks said. “I think where the heavy lift is, is just understanding procedurally how the race goes, making sure there’s no drama in the pits, on the restarts and things like that.
“I think anything is possible. I really do believe anything is possible.’’
Marks also revealed this will be the only start for the team’s Project91 third car in 2022 but he plans on at least six races for the car in 2023 – primarily on road courses and possibly in the DAYTONA 500 and other “tent-pole” races like it.
GIBBS REMAINS IN 23XI CAR FOR KURT BUSCH
This week former NASCAR Cup Series champion Kurt Busch issued a statement saying he would miss an additional two races – this week at Watkins Glen and next week at Daytona Beach – as he continues to heal from a concussion suffered during a qualifying crash at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway four weeks ago.
“As much as I want to be back in the car, the time is still not right,’’ Busch said in a statement issued on social media this week. “Over the last few weeks, I have focused all my efforts on getting better. And in order to fully focus my recovery on trying to be back for the Playoffs, I will not be competing in the next two races at Watkins Glen and Daytona
“The decision was not an easy one, but the right one.’’
Current NASCAR Xfinity Series standout Ty Gibbs will continue to drive Busch’s No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota for those two events. The 19-year old Gibbs has one top-10 (10th at Michigan) in four races for the team while Busch is sidelined. He qualified the car 16th for Sunday’s race.
INSPECTION WOES
Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has been fast all weekend, but it failed pre-race inspection twice resulting in the loss of a pit selection and the ejection of car chief Jesse Saunders.
Larson is the defending race winner, was fastest in Saturday’s opening practice and qualified second – .015-second off his pole-winning teammate Elliott.
The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion and one-race winner in 2022 is hopeful his qualifying effort is a sign of good things to come on Sunday. He’s had only two top-10 finishes in the last five races entering Watkins Glen.
Source: Reid Spencer / NASCAR Wire Service[table=3973]Failed to Qualify: None
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
* Must Qualify on Time
# Denotes Rookie
Timing and Scoring provided by NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications
