DARLINGTON, S.C. -- William Byron will lead the field to the green flag Sunday afternoon for the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway (3 p.m. ET, FS1) after winning the pole.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver posted the fastest lap during single-car qualifying at 28.774 seconds. This is his second pole win at Darlington Raceway in the Cup Series and the 15th of his career.
MORE: Goodyear 400 starting lineup
RFK Racing's Ryan Preece qualified second with a lap of 28.858 seconds. This is his best start of the season and his first start inside of the top 10 since taking over the No. 60 Ford.
Preece was followed by Denny Hamlin (28.867), Chase Briscoe (28.879), Bubba Wallace (28.895), Austin Cindric (28.948), Tyler Reddick (28.955), Kyle Busch (28.957), Ryan Blaney (28.958), and Michael McDowell (28.972).
Hamlin, Byron, and Briscoe have all won Cup Series races at Darlington since 2021. Hamlin won the 2021 Southern 500, Byron won the 2023 Goodyear 400, and Briscoe won last season's Southern 500. This win was Stewart-Haas Racing's last in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Brad Keselowski, the defending winner of the Goodyear 400, qualified 20th with a lap of 29.172 seconds. He will line up on the 10th row next to 2023 Southern 500 winner Kyle Larson (29.078).
Of course, where a driver qualifies does not mean that a driver will automatically contend for the race win. Darlington is a difficult track that tests every single competitor and their teams. It requires perfection.
"You have to have good mechanical grip here; you have to have good aerodynamics, and the driver has to be really good with his craft," Hamlin said Saturday afternoon. "I talked about just understanding when to push, when to not.
"Understanding the length of the race is. Even though this is a 400 (mile race), it's still grueling. I think Darlington is by far one of the most grueling race tracks that you go to simply because it's going to be a warm one this weekend. It's going to be mentally-taxing knowing that you have to hit your marks just perfect at this track."