William Byron is youngest to win ‘600’ pole

CONCORD, N.C. — The hometown kid will start out front in NASCAR’s longest race.

Charlotte native William Byron became the youngest driver ever to capture the pole position for the Coca-Cola 600. The 21-year-old Byron, who grew up a short drive from Charlotte Motor Speedway, turned a lap of 183.424 mph in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet on the 1.5-mile quad oval during qualifying Thursday night.

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola will join Byron on the front row in the No. 10 Ford. Six Fords will start in the top 10 for Sunday night’s 600-lap, 400mile race, which will complete what is annually one of the biggest — and longest — days worldwide in auto racing. The Cup Series clash will follow Formula One’s Monaco Grand Prix and IndyCar’s Indianapolis 500.

“I grew up in Charlotte and I came to this race every year, so it’s a dream come true to qualify on the pole,” Byron said. “This is pretty cool. I can’t think of a better way to start the weekend.”

Byron downplayed being the youngest pole-sitter in the race, saying he doesn’t view himself as young but rather as a “race car driver like everyone else.”

Byron has six top-10 finishes in 49 career Cup Series starts but is still looking for his first win. He’s hoping to follow in the footsteps of veteran driver Kyle Busch, who won the Coca-Cola 600 last year starting from the pole.

Busch will start third this year in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota, followed by 2017 race winner Austin Dillon of Richard Childress Racing and Chevrolet, with 2011 and 2013 winner Kevin Harvick, another Stewart-Haas driver, starting fifth. Rounding out the starting top 10 are Daniel Suarez, Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Daniel Hemric.

Byron undoubtedly hopes things go better than they did in his inaugural appearance in the Coca-Cola 600 last year, when he qualified 21st and finished 39th after crashing, and he at least won’t have to deal with slower traffic in front of him early.

Said Byron: “That No. 1 pit stall will pay dividends later in the race for sure.”