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Motorsport
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Jim Utter

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

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 United States William Byron Chevrolet 1 1'10.872     124.450
2 34 United States Michael McDowell Ford 3 1'11.015 0.143 0.143 124.199
3 18 United States Kyle Busch Toyota 3 1'11.068 0.196 0.053 124.106
4 2 United States Austin Cindric Ford 4 1'11.093 0.221 0.025 124.063
5 99 Mexico Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 6 1'11.149 0.277 0.056 123.965
6 31 United States Justin Haley Chevrolet 5 1'11.250 0.378 0.101 123.789
7 6 United States 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 United States Joey Hand Ford 5 1'11.350 0.478 0.010 123.616
10 11 United States Denny Hamlin Toyota 4 1'11.442 0.570 0.092 123.457
11 4 United States Kevin Harvick Ford 3 1'11.551 0.679 0.109 123.269
12 19 United States Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 3 1'11.675 0.803 0.124 123.055
13 91 Finland Kimi Raikkonen Chevrolet 10 1'11.824 0.952 0.149 122.800
14 42 United States Ty Dillon Chevrolet 5 1'11.906 1.034 0.082 122.660
15 41 United States Cole Custer Ford 3 1'11.958 1.086 0.052 122.572
16 21 United States Harrison Burton Ford 5 1'12.033 1.161 0.075 122.444
17 27 Netherlands Loris Hezemans Ford 4 1'12.737 1.865 0.704 121.259
18 10 United States Aric Almirola Ford 5 1'12.959 2.087 0.222 120.890
19 20 United States Christopher Bell Toyota          
20 51 United States 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 United States Chase Elliott Chevrolet 3 1'10.535     125.044
2 5 United States Kyle Larson Chevrolet 3 1'10.703 0.168 0.168 124.747
3 8 United States Tyler Reddick Chevrolet 3 1'10.880 0.345 0.177 124.436
4 16 United States A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 3 1'11.002 0.467 0.122 124.222
5 17 United States Chris Buescher Ford 3 1'11.124 0.589 0.122 124.009
6 48 United States Alex Bowman Chevrolet 5 1'11.200 0.665 0.076 123.876
7 3 United States Austin Dillon Chevrolet 5 1'11.215 0.680 0.015 123.850
8 14 United States Chase Briscoe Ford 5 1'11.259 0.724 0.044 123.774
9 1 United States Ross Chastain Chevrolet 5 1'11.364 0.829 0.105 123.592
10 38 United States Todd Gilliland Ford 3 1'11.393 0.858 0.029 123.542
11 22 United States Joey Logano Ford 3 1'11.434 0.899 0.041 123.471
12 47 United States Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Chevrolet 5 1'11.435 0.900 0.001 123.469
13 23 United States Bubba Wallace Toyota 5 1'11.443 0.908 0.008 123.455
14 12 United States Ryan Blaney Ford 6 1'11.783 1.248 0.340 122.870
15 43 United States Erik Jones Chevrolet 3 1'12.359 1.824 0.576 121.892
16 7 United States Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 5 1'12.536 2.001 0.177 121.595
17 77 Germany Mike Rockenfeller Chevrolet 9 1'12.583 2.048 0.047 121.516
18 26 Russian Federation Daniil Kvyat Toyota 6 1'13.129 2.594 0.546 120.609
19 78 United Kingdom Kyle Tilley Ford 2 1'15.126 4.591 1.997 117.403
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