Chase Elliott takes Watkins Glen Cup pole, Raikkonen 27th

Elliott posted the fastest average speed in the final round of Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at 125.147 mph, just edging out his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson (125.078 mph) for top starting position.

The pole is the third of the 2022 season for Elliott and 12th of his career.

It’s the second career pole at the Glen for Elliott, who has won two of the last three races at the road course.

“My car has been solid. I felt like we had some work to do there from where we were in practice,” Elliott said. “I felt like there was a couple parts of the track I wanted to put together better.

“It’s just so fast. The pace is just so high here with this car I feel like from what I remember and how much throttle you’re carrying. A little bit carries with you a long ways. I’m really proud of my team.”

Michael McDowell qualified third, fellow Hendrick driver William Byron was fourth and Tyler Reddick rounded out the top-five.

Completing the top-10 lineup are A.J. Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez and Kyle Busch.

Former F1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen qualified 27th for his first career Cup series start, driving a third entry for Trackhouse Racing.

“I wish there had been more laps. It just felt like there is a lot of potential, but you know, I’m not sure which line to take and just not enough laps to put everything together,” he said.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	3	1'10.477			125.147
2	5	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	5	1'10.516	0.039	0.039	125.078
3	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	1	1'10.738	0.261	0.222	124.685
4	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	4	1'10.811	0.334	0.073	124.557
5	8	Tyler Reddick		Chevrolet	3	1'10.837	0.360	0.026	124.511
6	16	A.J. Allmendinger		Chevrolet	4	1'10.980	0.503	0.143	124.260
7	17	Chris Buescher		Ford	2	1'11.180	0.703	0.200	123.911
8	2	Austin Cindric		Ford	1	1'11.335	0.858	0.155	123.642
9	99	Daniel Suarez		Chevrolet	5	1'11.496	1.019	0.161	123.364
10	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	2	1'11.736	1.259	0.240	122.951

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Round 1 / Group B

Byron set his quick lap early in the session (124.450 mph) and it stood up.

McDowell ended up second-fastest (124.199 mph) and Busch was third (124.106 mph).

Cindric and Suarez rounded out the top-five and also advanced to the final round.

Among those who failed to advance were Brad Keselowski, Justin Haley, Martin Truex Jr. and Aric Almirola.

There were no on-track incidents during the Group B session.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	1	1'10.872			124.450
2	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	3	1'11.015	0.143	0.143	124.199
3	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	3	1'11.068	0.196	0.053	124.106
4	2	Austin Cindric		Ford	4	1'11.093	0.221	0.025	124.063
5	99	Daniel Suarez		Chevrolet	6	1'11.149	0.277	0.056	123.965
6	31	Justin Haley		Chevrolet	5	1'11.250	0.378	0.101	123.789
7	6	Brad Keselowski		Ford	3	1'11.259	0.387	0.009	123.774
8	45	Ty Gibbs		Toyota	5	1'11.340	0.468	0.081	123.633
9	15	Joey Hand		Ford	5	1'11.350	0.478	0.010	123.616
10	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	4	1'11.442	0.570	0.092	123.457
11	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	3	1'11.551	0.679	0.109	123.269
12	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	3	1'11.675	0.803	0.124	123.055
13	91	Kimi Raikkonen		Chevrolet	10	1'11.824	0.952	0.149	122.800
14	42	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	5	1'11.906	1.034	0.082	122.660
15	41	Cole Custer		Ford	3	1'11.958	1.086	0.052	122.572
16	21	Harrison Burton		Ford	5	1'12.033	1.161	0.075	122.444
17	27	Loris Hezemans		Ford	4	1'12.737	1.865	0.704	121.259
18	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	5	1'12.959	2.087	0.222	120.890
19	20	Christopher Bell		Toyota
20	51	Cody Ware		Ford

Round 1 / Group A

In the final minute of the session, Elliott posted the fastest average lap speed at 125.044 mph.

Larson ended up second-fastest (124.747 mph) and Reddick was third (124.436 mph).

Allmendinger and Buescher also advanced to the final round of qualifying.

Just over nine minutes into the session, Kyle Tilley went off course in the inner loop and hit the wall to bring out a caution.

Among those who failed to advance to the final round were Chase Briscoe, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	3	1'10.535			125.044
2	5	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	3	1'10.703	0.168	0.168	124.747
3	8	Tyler Reddick		Chevrolet	3	1'10.880	0.345	0.177	124.436
4	16	A.J. Allmendinger		Chevrolet	3	1'11.002	0.467	0.122	124.222
5	17	Chris Buescher		Ford	3	1'11.124	0.589	0.122	124.009
6	48	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	5	1'11.200	0.665	0.076	123.876
7	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	5	1'11.215	0.680	0.015	123.850
8	14	Chase Briscoe		Ford	5	1'11.259	0.724	0.044	123.774
9	1	Ross Chastain		Chevrolet	5	1'11.364	0.829	0.105	123.592
10	38	Todd Gilliland		Ford	3	1'11.393	0.858	0.029	123.542
11	22	Joey Logano		Ford	3	1'11.434	0.899	0.041	123.471
12	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Chevrolet	5	1'11.435	0.900	0.001	123.469
13	23	Bubba Wallace		Toyota	5	1'11.443	0.908	0.008	123.455
14	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	6	1'11.783	1.248	0.340	122.870
15	43	Erik Jones		Chevrolet	3	1'12.359	1.824	0.576	121.892
16	7	Corey Lajoie		Chevrolet	5	1'12.536	2.001	0.177	121.595
17	77	Mike Rockenfeller		Chevrolet	9	1'12.583	2.048	0.047	121.516
18	26	Daniil Kvyat		Toyota	6	1'13.129	2.594	0.546	120.609
19	78	Kyle Tilley		Ford	2	1'15.126	4.591	1.997	117.403