Custer wins pole at dirt-covered Bristol through heat races

BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) — Cole Custer won the first pole of his career Saturday through a formula designed for qualifying via heat races at dirt-covered Bristol Motor Speedway.

Custer put his No. 41 Ford at the front for NASCAR's rare Easter Sunday race that was specifically scheduled for Fox Sports to try to capitalize on a primetime holiday audience the way the NFL and NBA do on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The starting lineup was set over four 15-lap heats that were determined by a random draw. Drivers accumulated points for both finishing and passing and Custer started ninth in his heat and then won it — good enough for his first pole in 84 career Cup starts.

A slew of dirt aces followed Custer in qualifying: Christopher Bell was second in a Toyota, followed by Tyler Reddick in a Chevrolet and Chase Briscoe, Custer's teammate at Stewart-Haas Racing.

Reigning Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, one of the best drivers on dirt in the nation, qualified fifth and was followed by Justin Haley, Ty Dillon, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott and defending race winner Joey Logano.

Visibility was much better Saturday as dust was less of an issue on the watered-down 2,300 truckloads of red Tennessee clay. Fox a year ago asked NASCAR to add a dirt race to the 38-race Cup schedule and Speedway Motorsports volunteered its .0533-mile Bristol bullring.

It cost Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith over $2 million to convert the track a year ago and even though it was a dusty mess of a race, he announced before the checkered flag that the 2022 spring race would again be on dirt. The track was reverted back to its concrete “Last Great Colosseum.”

Fox asked for the Easter Sunday slot and Smith and his staff have scheduled a pre-race religious