Kyle Larson, last week’s winner at Sonoma Raceway, won the pole in the NASCAR Cup Series’ first-ever visit to Iowa Speedway for the Iowa Corn 350 Presented by Ethanol with a speed of 136.458 mph. Larson was the final driver to put down a time after the track was washed out earlier today (June 15) in a single-round qualifying session. Larson earned his fourth pole of the season and 20th of his Cup Series career.
Ryan Blaney will share front row honors with with Larson after clocking in at 136.311 mph. The driver of the Team Penske No. 12 has won at Iowa previously in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2012 with Brad Keselowski Racing, his first-ever win in the top three series of NASCAR, and again in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2015 with Team Penske.
Josh Berry qualified in third, his second top-five starting position in his 29 Cup Series career starts, and William Byron will start fourth outside of Berry. Brad Keselowski completed the top five.
Chase Briscoe, Kyle Busch, Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell, who will start at the rear after going to a backup car due to damage to his primary car in practice, rounded out the top 10.
Austin Cindric, who qualified 21st, will join Bell at the rear of the field as he also went to his backup car after hitting the wall in yesterday’s practice thanks to a flat tire.
Instead of the typical two rounds, NASCAR implemented one round of qualifying to save time because of a delay for track drying. The top-five times from group A and B counted as the top 10 by fastest lap while positions 11-36 were determined normally with the sixth fastest in each group in row six. Qualifiers outside the top 10 from group B made up the inside lane, while drivers from group A comprised the outside lane.
Only the 36 chartered entries qualified for the inaugural race at Iowa. Therefore, all 36 teams will race tomorrow.
The Cup Series will see the green flag at Iowa for the first time tomorrow, June 16 at 7 p.m. ET. Coverage will be provided by USA Network.
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