NASCAR qualifying lineup for Sunday: Chase Elliott third, Kyle Larson seventh at COTA

With NASCAR Cup Series practice sessions earlier on Saturday showing significant tire wear of long runs, Sunday’s main event at Circuit of The Americas could become a battle of attrition. 

Just how cars stack up on long runs may determine the race but short-run speed was the name of the game early Saturday afternoon for qualifying. 

Chase Elliott and the No. 9 team showed speed and resilience during the session. In his first run, Elliott aborted his lap but came out just before the clock ran out and posted a lap of 1:38.36, good enough to roll off third on Sunday. Elliott won the inaugural race at COTA in 2021. 

Kyle Larson was next among Hendrick Motorsports drivers with a lap of 1:38.58, earning him the seventh starting position. William Byron, who was second in final practice, will roll off 15th. Alex Bowman, whose career average finish at COTA of 4.3 is second among Cup Series drivers, will start 21st.

Byron is the defending winner at COTA as Hendrick Motorsports pulled off a sweep last year. Larson won the Xfinity Series race, an event Byron was set to compete in later on Saturday afternoon. All told, Hendrick Motorsports has won four of the last five road course races in the Cup Series. 

Sunday’s race is set to begin at 3:30 p.m. and will air on Fox. 

NASCAR starting lineup for COTA

Cody Ware, No. 51, 1:42.06

Tyler Reddick, 1:38.08

Bubba Wallace, 1:38.3

Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet, 1:38.36

Carson Hocevar, No. 77, 1:38.45

Daniel Suarez, No. 99, 1:38.48

Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88, 1:38.52

Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 1:38.58

Kyle Busch, No. 8, 1:38.59

Ross Chastain, No. 1, 1:38.7

Todd Gilliland, No. 34, 1:38.72

Denny Hamlin, No. 11, 1:38.74

AJ Allmendinger, No. 16, 1:38.79

Ty Gibbs, No. 54, 1:38.85

Connor Zilisch, No. 87, 1:38.93

William Byron, No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet, 1:39.1

Michael McDowell, No. 71, 1:39.18

Noah Gragson, No. 4, 1:39.21

Chase Briscoe, No. 19, 1:39.21

Christopher Bell, No. 20, 1:39.21

Zane Smith, No. 38, 1:39.24

Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 1:39.24

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 1:39.37

Joey Logano, No. 22 1:39.43

Chris Buescher, No. 17, 1:39.46

Ryan Blaney, No. 12, 1:39.49

Brad Keselowski, No. 6, 1:39.54

Austin Dillon, No. 3, 1:39.55

Ryan Preece, No. 60, 1:39.77

Justin Haley, No. 7, 1:39.85

Cole Custer, No. 41, 1:39.9

Riley Herbst, No. 35, 1:39.93

Erik Jones, No. 43, 1:39.99

John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42, 1:40.04

Ty Dillon, No. 10, 1:40.06

Josh Berry, No. 21, 1:40.29

Austin Cindric, No. 2, 1:40.7