NASCAR starting lineup: William Byron scores Darlington pole

William Byron, already the current NASCAR Cup Series championship leader, also became the first driver to score two poles and will start at the front of the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday.

The pole was his second at the track and he is also looking for a second win here after winning this race in the spring of 2023.

“I felt good about it today, felt like we had a good plan going into practice and that we are always strong here,’’ said this year’s Daytona 500 winner Byron, who won at Darlington in 2023 and said it may well be his “best track.”

“Tried to find a decent balance there, worked on it and got better and finished practice pretty strong so I felt like I had some confidence going into practice. Was just nervous going early. Having an earlier draw was not ideal, but it seemed like the track temp was going up so it wasn’t the worst thing. … Proud of our team, we had a really good week of prep.’’

Ryan Preece, on a run of momentum in the RFK Racing No. 60, will join Byron on the front row. They will be trailed by a trio of Toyotas driven by Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe and Bubba Wallace.

Despite taking the pole with Byron, Hendrick Motorsports did not fare well on the whole with Cup Series qualifying with Chase Elliott starting 15th ahead of Kyle Larson in 19th and Alex Bowman in 33rd.

Byron, Larson and Bowman are first through third in the standings and Elliott is sixth. Meanwhile, Byron says track position will matter.

“It may be tricky strategy-wise and you can get stuck back there, so [qualifying] matters maybe just a tick more than other places,” Byron said. “These cars are really finicky so hitting the balance and just hitting the lap the way you want it to be can be really difficult. So I’m not surprised because there’s a lot of parity in the Next Gen era and especially in qualifying so you can be just that little bit off.

“I feel like our team has really good notes from qualifying though and that will really help.’’

The Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway is scheduled for Sunday, April 6, at 3:00 p.m. ET. Live coverage will air on FOX Sports 1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.