Kyle Larson wins Cup pole at Phoenix

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Larson won his first pole of the season Saturday at Phoenix Raceway and will lead the Cup starting lineup to the green flag Sunday. 

Larson, who was fastest in Friday’s practice, qualified at 130.237 mph. His result came a day after NASCAR announced that it took the hood louvers (vents in the hood) for further evaluation from all four Hendrick Motorsports cars after practice. NASCAR took the hood louvers from Justin Haley‘s car before qualifying Saturday.

NASCAR stated that there if there were to be any penalties for any of those cars, those would be announced next week. Hendrick had two of the top three cars in qualifying and will have all four start in the top 20. Haley qualified 26th.

Denny Hamlin joins Larson on the front row after a lap of 129.931 mph. Larson’s teammate, William Byron, qualified third at 129.922 mph. Brad Keselowski qualified fourth at 129.762 mph. Christopher Bell completed the top five at 129.580 mph. Ross Chastain, who talked about his team’s struggles in practice Friday, rebounded to qualify sixth at 129.394.

Josh Berry, filling in for the injured Chase Elliott, qualified 17th at 129.889. He’ll be joined in the ninth row by teammate Alex Bowman (129.956).

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Chevrolet, which has won the first three races of the Cup season, will have five drivers starting in the top 10, including pole-sitter Kyle Larson, in Sunday’s race at Phoenix Raceway.

Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron starts third. Also in the top 10 for Chevrolet are Ross Chastain (sixth), Kyle Busch (ninth) and Erik Jones (10th).

The top Toyota driver is Denny Hamlin, who starts second. The top Ford driver is Brad Keselowski, who starts fourth.

Chase Briscoe, who won this race last