Chase Briscoe captured the Busch Light Pole Award for the 2025 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 24.
The event's starting lineup was determined through a standard practice and qualifying procedure. The field was split into two 25-minute practice sessions apiece and then rejoined forces to participate in one single-lap qualifying session (impound). The groups and order were determined by metrics that included 70% based on previous race finish by owner and 30% based on owner points standings, with the best-scoring competitors placed in the second group.
Briscoe was the 23rd-fastest competitor during the event's lone practice session on Saturday but clocked in his best lap at 182.852 mph in 29.532 seconds. The lap was enough for him to claim the pole for NASCAR's longest event on the schedule in Concord, North Carolina.
Briscoe, who is in his first season driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry XSE entry for Joe Gibbs Racing, notched his second NASCAR Cup Series pole of the 2025 season. It was also his first since this year's Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in February and the fourth of his career. The pole award was the third of the year for Joe Gibbs Racing and the fourth for the Toyota nameplate.
Briscoe, the 2024 Southern 500 champion from Mitchell, Indiana, is currently ranked in 12th place in the 2025 driver's standings on the strength of five top-10 results through the first 12 scheduled events. With the 2025 Cup Series regular-season stretch nearing its halfway mark, Briscoe continues his pursuit of his first victory of the year that would enable him to make the Playoffs.
"The No. 19 car's been really good here," Briscoe said. "This is the first track I got to run a mile-and-a-half in this car. We came and did the Goodyear tire test [in March]. I was able to really learn things throughout today. I definitely felt confident coming into this weekend. We've had speed all year long. I just haven't been able to perform good enough on Saturday on my end to put us in position. [I] Finally did that. Hopefully, I can do my job tomorrow now."
Kyle Larson, who is pulling the Memorial Day double-duty attempt by competing in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day, will start in second place for the latter event. Larson's best lap occurred at 182.729 mph in 29.552 seconds. He will next return to Indianapolis, where he will start in 19th place for this year's 109th running of the Indy 500 which will occur on Sunday, May 25, at 12:45 p.m. ET. Immediately after the event, Larson will fly back to Charlotte to compete in the Coca-Cola 600 which is scheduled to commence at 6 p.m. ET.
William Byron, this year's two-time Daytona 500 champion who is fresh off inking a new four-year contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports, missed out on the pole but will line up in third place with a qualifying lap at 182.642 mph in 29.566 seconds. He will be followed by Chris Buescher and AJ Allmendinger, respectively, in the top five.
John Hunter Nemechek, Ty Gibbs, Noah Gragson, Alex Bowman and Christopher Bell, the latter of whom is the reigning Charlotte Coca-Cola 600 champion, completed the top-10 starting grid.
Notably, the following names including Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Tyler Reddick, Austin Cindric, Michael McDowell, Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Josh Berry, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Daniel Suarez, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Ryan Preece, rookie Shane van Gisbergen, rookie Riley Herbst, Bubba Wallace, Connor Zilisch, Brad Keselowski and Carson Hocevar will start 11th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 30th, 31st, 32nd, 33rd, 35th and 39th, respectively.
The lone competitor who did not post a qualifying lap at Charlotte was Ross Chastain. The Alva, Florida, native was involved in a single-car accident through Turns 3 and 4 and blew a left-rear tire. Chastain will take the green flag for Sunday's event at the rear of the field.
With 40 competitors vying for 40 starting spots, all of the entered competitors made the event.
The 2025 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway is set to occur on Sunday, May 25, and air at 6 p.m. ET on Prime Video.