Yahoo Lifestyle Chase Elliott gets pole at Watkins Glen
Chase Elliott is going to start Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen where he finished the 2018 race: first.
Elliott posted the fastest lap in the second round of qualifying on Saturday to win the pole for Sunday’s race. He’s joined on the first row by teammate William Byron, a driver who is looking for his first career win.
Elliott scored his first-ever win a year ago at Watkins Glen when he held off 2017 Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. over the race’s final laps. Truex will start fourth and is joined by Kyle Busch on the second row.
Elliott has won three more Cup Series races since that win at Watkins Glen, a win that was overshadowed by then-NASCAR CEO Brian France’s DWI arrest later that evening. Elliott won two more races in 2018 and is already qualified for the 2019 playoffs thanks to a win at Talladega this season.
The last few weeks haven’t gone well for Elliott, however. He’s gone from third to eighth in the points over the last seven races and has four finishes of 29th or worse in that span. He was last a week ago at Pocono after a flat tire caused a crash. That was his backup car too. Elliott had crashed the day before in practice.
Sunday’s race is a great chance to stop that slide.
Starting lineup
1. Chase Elliott
2. William Byron
3. Kyle Busch
4. Martin Truex Jr.
5. Kyle Larson
6. Denny Hamlin
7. Kurt Busch
8. Jimmie Johnson
9. Aric Almirola
10. Brad Keselowski
11. Michael McDowell
12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
13. Clint Bowyer
14. Erik Jones
15. Kevin Harvick
16. Chris Buescher
17. Alex Bowman
18. Daniel Suarez
19. Ryan Blaney
20. Matt DiBenedetto
21. Joey Logano
22. Paul Menard
23. Daniel Hemric
24. Parker Kligerman
25. Ryan Newman
26. Matt Tifft
27. Ty Dillon
28. Austin Dillon
29. Ryan Preece
30. Bubba Wallace
31. David Ragan
32. Ross Chastain
33. Corey LaJoie
34. Landon Cassill
35. Cody Ware
36. Josh Bilicki
37. Reed Sorenson
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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