Bobby Travis · NASCAR/IndyCar Correspondent
Ryan Blaney took the pole for the Freeway Insurance 500 at Phoenix Raceway, while Chase leader Kyle Larson battled a loose car and could only qualify 22nd.
Ryan Blaney put his car on the pole for the Freeway Insurance 500 at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday. The Team Penske driver turned the fastest lap of qualifying at 26.250 seconds and edged teammate Joey Logano, who qualified second, by just 0.032 seconds. Sunday's race on the one-mile oval in Avondale, Arizona, is the seventh of ten races in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase, at a track that becomes a real measuring stick for several title contenders at this stage of the Chase.
All-Penske front row
The pole confirmed Blaney's strong form on the day. In practice, held Saturday from 1:30 p.m. local time right before qualifying, the driver of the No. 12 had already posted the fastest time at 26.969 seconds. In qualifying at 2:35 p.m. local time, he found plenty more speed and lowered the benchmark to 26.250 seconds. Logano came close at 26.282 seconds but had to settle for second, completing an all-Penske front row for Sunday. Phoenix has been a good hunting ground for Blaney anyway: he won the last two Cup races at the track, in November 2025 and March 2026, and can make it three in a row on Sunday.
Crew chief Jonathan Hassler had called this a must-win race ahead of the weekend, and Blaney at least partly agreed: fifth in the Chase standings, he trails points leader Kyle Larson by 85 points. The pole gives Blaney the best possible starting point: on Phoenix's tight one-mile oval, track position at the front counts double, because clean air in the opening laps stays valuable throughout the race.
Joe Gibbs Racing lined up right behind
Behind the Penske pair, Joe Gibbs Racing showed collective strength. Chase Briscoe secured third with a lap of 26.311 seconds, just 0.003 seconds ahead of teammate Denny Hamlin in fourth. Christopher Bell completed the JGR trio in positions three through five, 0.037 seconds behind Hamlin.
Tyler Reddick and Ty Gibbs added more Toyota presence near the front in sixth and seventh, followed by Michael McDowell in eighth and Josh Berry in ninth. William Byron rounded out the top ten as the best Hendrick driver, 0.233 seconds off Blaney's pole time. For Sunday, the tight spread across rows two and three means the first restarts after early cautions are likely to decide the order in the first third of the race.
Setback for Larson
For Kyle Larson, the leader of the Chase standings, qualifying went anything but to plan. On his qualifying lap, the Hendrick driver fought a loose car on corner entry in Turns 1 and 2, could not find grip and lost valuable tenths. His lap of 26.769 seconds was only good enough for 22nd. According to NASCAR.com, it was his worst qualifying result of the Chase so far and his worst since Richmond in August.
The drop stands out all the more because Larson had been 13th in practice, much closer to the leading group than he ended up in qualifying. On a short track like Phoenix, starting 22nd means one thing above all: plenty of laps in traffic, without the drafting cushion drivers can rely on at superspeedways. Whether Larson can fight his way forward through the tight midfield on Sunday, or whether Blaney cuts into Larson's championship lead from the pole, will be the first big storyline of the race.
