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Jim Utter

Fords dominate Gateway Cup qualifying with Briscoe on pole

Briscoe was fastest in Round 1 of qualifying on Saturday and did it again in Round 2, as his average lap speed of 138.274 mph topped fellow Ford driver Austin Cindric for the pole in Sunday’s inaugural Cup race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

Perhaps it shouldn’t be much of a surprise as many drivers have compared the 1.25-mile fairly flat oval at Gateway with Phoenix, the site of Briscoe’s first win this year.

“It’s funny, the first round I thought I under-drove it extremely bad and the second round I over-drove. I got really loose into (Turn) 3 and thought I gave away any advantage I had through (Turns) 1 and 2,” said Briscoe, in his sophomore Cup season with Stewart-Haas Racing.

“We were obviously really good at Phoenix and we’ve got a pretty close package to that so we’ll see if we can have the same result as Phoenix. Obviously, we’ve got the best starting spot for that and I’m really looking forward to tomorrow, for sure.”

Cindric ended up second (137.775 mph) while Christopher Bell ended up third (137.560 mph). Tyler Reddick was fourth and Ryan Blaney fifth.

Completing the top-10 starting lineup are Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano (who topped practice on Friday), Aric Almirola, Harrison Burton and Ross Chastain, as Fords claimed six of the top-10 starting positions.

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Mph
1 14 United States Chase Briscoe Ford 1 32.544     138.274
2 2 United States Austin Cindric Ford 1 32.662 0.118 0.118 137.775
3 20 United States Christopher Bell Toyota 1 32.713 0.169 0.051 137.560
4 8 United States Tyler Reddick Chevrolet 1 32.724 0.180 0.011 137.514
5 12 United States Ryan Blaney Ford 1 32.735 0.191 0.011 137.468
6 11 United States Denny Hamlin Toyota 1 32.760 0.216 0.025 137.363
7 10 United States Aric Almirola Ford 1 32.820 0.276 0.060 137.112
8 22 United States Joey Logano Ford 1 32.820 0.276 0.000 137.112
9 21 United States Harrison Burton Ford 1 32.828 0.284 0.008 137.078
10 1 United States Ross Chastain Chevrolet 1 32.870 0.326 0.042 136.903

Round 1 / Group B

Logano, who was fastest in practice on Friday, led the way in Group B with an average lap speed of 138.016 mph.

Reddick ended up second (137.800 mph) and Bell was third (137.602 mph). Blaney and Hamlin also advanced to the final round of qualifying to compete for the pole.

Among those who failed to move on were Kurt Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Bubba Wallace.

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Mph
1 22 United States Joey Logano Ford 1 32.605     138.016
2 8 United States Tyler Reddick Chevrolet 1 32.656 0.051 0.051 137.800
3 20 United States Christopher Bell Toyota 1 32.703 0.098 0.047 137.602
4 12 United States Ryan Blaney Ford 1 32.719 0.114 0.016 137.535
5 11 United States Denny Hamlin Toyota 1 32.762 0.157 0.043 137.354
6 45 United States Kurt Busch Toyota 1 32.803 0.198 0.041 137.183
7 18 United States Kyle Busch Toyota 1 32.827 0.222 0.024 137.082
8 19 United States Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 1 32.868 0.263 0.041 136.911
9 9 United States Chase Elliott Chevrolet 1 32.941 0.336 0.073 136.608
10 23 United States Bubba Wallace Toyota 1 32.977 0.372 0.036 136.459
11 7 United States Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 1 32.997 0.392 0.020 136.376
12 38 United States Todd Gilliland Ford 1 33.055 0.450 0.058 136.137
13 99 Mexico Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 1 33.088 0.483 0.033 136.001
14 42 United States Ty Dillon Chevrolet 1 33.285 0.680 0.197 135.196
15 47 United States Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Chevrolet 1 33.299 0.694 0.014 135.139
16 31 United States Justin Haley Chevrolet 1 33.339 0.734 0.040 134.977
17 77 United States Josh Bilicki Chevrolet 1 33.744 1.139 0.405 133.357
18 78 United States B.J. McLeod Ford 1 34.477 1.872 0.733 130.522

Round 1 / Group A

Briscoe was the last car to attempt to qualify in Group A and rocketed to the top of the chart with an average lap speed of 138.342 mph.

Cindric, who led most of the session, was second (137.208 mph) and Almirola third (137.137 mph). Also advancing to Round 2 were Burton and Chastain.

“It’s really neat, you know. Qualifying for us has been sort of a weak point this year,” Burton said. “We’re making gains on it.”

Among those who failed to advance were Cole Custer and three Hendrick cars – Kyle Larson, William Byron and Alex Bowman.

Parker Kligerman and Ben Rhodes (driving for A.J. Allmendinger) did not attempt to qualify as both teams were still repairing damage from incidents during practice on Friday.

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Mph
1 14 United States Chase Briscoe Ford 1 32.528     138.342
2 2 United States Austin Cindric Ford 1 32.797 0.269 0.269 137.208
3 10 United States Aric Almirola Ford 1 32.814 0.286 0.017 137.137
4 21 United States Harrison Burton Ford 1 32.877 0.349 0.063 136.874
5 1 United States Ross Chastain Chevrolet 1 32.904 0.376 0.027 136.761
6 41 United States Cole Custer Ford 1 32.932 0.404 0.028 136.645
7 5 United States Kyle Larson Chevrolet 1 32.939 0.411 0.007 136.616
8 34 United States Michael McDowell Ford 1 32.960 0.432 0.021 136.529
9 43 United States Erik Jones Chevrolet 1 33.019 0.491 0.059 136.285
10 4 United States Kevin Harvick Ford 1 33.019 0.491 0.000 136.285
11 24 United States William Byron Chevrolet 1 33.112 0.584 0.093 135.902
12 48 United States Alex Bowman Chevrolet 1 33.150 0.622 0.038 135.747
13 3 United States Austin Dillon Chevrolet 1 33.415 0.887 0.265 134.670
14 6 United States Brad Keselowski Ford 1 33.575 1.047 0.160 134.028
15 51 United States Cody Ware Ford 1 33.625 1.097 0.050 133.829
16 17 Zane Smith Ford 1 33.671 1.143 0.046 133.646
17 15 United States Parker Kligerman Ford          
18 16 United States Ben Rhodes Chevrolet        
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