Less than a day remains until the kick-off of the third and final race of the West Coast swing. The fourth NASCAR Cup Series race will be held this Sunday afternoon at Phoenix International Raceway.
Like every other NASCAR Cup Series race, a qualifying session took place on Saturday where Ryan Blaney secured the pole for Sunday’s Ruoff Mortgage 500 with a qualifying speed of 132.709 mph. Denny Hamlin will join him on the front row, finishing with a speed of 132.353 mph.
Meanwhile, William Byron, Christopher Bell, Aric Almirola, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Larson, Austin Cindric, Alex Bowman, and Joey Logano completed the top-10.
Logano was first out in the final round of the qualifying session and went for a big slide out of Turn 4. He made slight contact with the outside wall, causing minor damage to his #22 Ford Mustang and this put him in the back of the top-10.
Martin Truex Jr., who won last year’s Ruoff Mortgage 500, stands 20th on the starting grid. Veteran driver Kevin Harvick, who has dominated the Phoenix Raceway with five Ruoff Mortgage 500 wins, will start 16th.
Team Penske drivers were the fastest in both Group A and Group B on Saturday’s practice session. In Group A, Austin Cindric recorded the fastest lap with a speed of 131.090 mph and in Group B, Ryan Blaney recorded the fastest lap with a speed of 131.047 mph.
NASCAR’s 2022 Ruoff Mortgage 500 qualifying results
On Saturday, 36 NASCAR drivers were divided into two groups based on last week’s Pennzoil 400 results. Each driver ran one lap in the first round.
The fastest five drivers from each group advanced to the second round. The 10 drivers in the second round ran another single-lap to set the top-10 in the starting line-up for Sunday’s race. The remaining drivers’ positions are determined based on the results of the first round.
Take a look at the top-10 finish at Saturday’s qualifying (round 2):
Position - Car# - Driver - Team - Speed (mph)
- #12 - Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, - 132.709
- #11 - Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, - 132.353
- #24 - William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports, - 132.275
- #20 - Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing, - 132.27
- #10 - Aric Almirola, Stewart-Haas Racing, - 131.984
- #14 - Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing, - 131.945
- #5 - Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, - 131.941
- #2 - Austin Cindric, Team Penske, - 131.873
- #48 - Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports, - 131.772
- #22 - Joey Logano, Team Penske, - 129.992
The coverage of the fourth race of the NASCAR Cup Series will air on FOX and the green flag will drop at 3:30 pm EST on Sunday.