Chase Briscoe claimed the Busch Light Pole Award for the second consecutive week and third time of the season Saturday, besting his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Denny Hamlin, by only 0.049 seconds in qualifying to earn the top starting position for Sunday‘s Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway (7 p.m. ET, Prime VIdeo, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Briscoe was among the very last to take to the 1.33-mile concrete oval, turning in a track record lap of 164.395 mph in the No. 19 JGR Toyota. He and Hamlin — a two-time Nashville pole winner — will lead the field to green with current NASCAR Cup Series championship leader, Hendrick Motorsports‘ William Byron in the No. 24 Chevrolet and 23XI Racing‘s Tyler Reddick in the No. 45 Toyota, a row behind.
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“I guess I just pushed my head farther forward as I was coming to the line,‘‘ Briscoe joked of the tight margin between the teammates to decide pole position.
“Honestly, I thought I ran a decent lap. Just a smooth lap and sometimes that‘s what it takes. Obviously, a good Saturday for our Bass Pro Shops Toyota, and obviously, two weeks in a row we‘ve been able to do that now, which is nice. Just need to put a Sunday together now.
“Track position is going to be really, really big here tomorrow and that‘s the name of the game most every place we go, certainly at this place. So hopefully we can maintain track position and keep it up front all day long.‘‘
Hamlin agreed about the significance of a good starting position.
“Certainly going to be a track position-type race, and with very minimum [tire] falloff, even in practice I kept having to back up from the guys that I was catching,‘‘ said Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 JGR Toyota. “Obviously, great job for our Progressive Toyota team to get us a good starting spot and pit stall.
“I would have loved to have number one, but Chase just ruined that,‘‘ he added, smiling. “Really happy for the whole Joe Gibbs Racing team to get the whole front row there. I definitely think we can race from that spot.‘‘
Reddick held the number one position on the speed chart for much of qualifying, only to be bested later by his team co-owner Hamlin, Briscoe, and Byron late in the session. Last year‘s regular season champion Reddick was fastest in practice in both single-lap speed and 10-lap average speed.
Last week‘s Charlotte race winner Ross Chastain — the 2023 Nashville winner — was fifth fastest in the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, followed by RFK Racing owner and driver Brad Keselowski, who set the fastest time among the Fords.
Joe Gibbs Racing‘s Christopher Bell, Spire Motorsports‘ Michael McDowell, Team Penske‘s Joey Logano and RFK‘s Christopher Buescher rounded out the top 10 in qualifying.
Former race winner (2021) Kyle Larson will start 28th and his Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott, the 2022 Nashville winner, will roll off 11th.
Reddick paces the field in practice
Cup Series drivers started Saturday with practice split into two 25-minute group sessions. Carson Hocevar led Group 1 with a speed of 160.338 mph while Tyler Reddick led a rapid Group 2 at 161.337 mph.
The top 10 overall were Reddick, Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Byron, Briscoe, Keselowski, Chastain, Hocevar, Bubba Wallace and McDowell.
MORE: Practice results | Busch, Berry go for a spin
Reddick led both groups overall in consecutive 10-lap averages. Hamlin, Chastain, Briscoe and Keselowski completed the top five there.
In Group 2, Kyle Busch got loose and slid while exiting Turn 4 and managed to avoid any damage, which brought out the first caution flag of the session. Moments later, Josh Berry had a similar incident while going over the bumps in the final turn, but managed to escape unscathed.
This story will be updated.
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