William Byron‘s hot start to the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season continued on Saturday, as the Daytona 500 winner won the pole for Sunday’s Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
Byron was the only driver to lay down a lap under 27 seconds, coming in at a 26.93 to beat Joey Logano for the pole position.
Logano, Carson Hocevar, Josh Berry and Erik Jones rounded out the top five, with Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell, Justin Haley, Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin completing the top-10.
Other notable qualifying efforts include Christopher Bell in 11th, Ryan Blaney in 12th, Kyle Busch in 15th, Kyle Larson in 17th and Katherine Legge in 37th.
“I did not hit my marks,” Byron told Fox Sports. “I was sideways, I just carried a ton of entry speed. I was going to commit to the (corner) exits.”
The pole is the 14th of Byron’s Cup Series career and his second at Phoenix. In November 2023, Byron won the pole for the Cup Series championship race. He’s going for his second victory of 2025 and his second Phoenix win on Sunday.
The Shriners Children’s 500 will go green shortly after 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, with coverage on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Pre-race coverage will begin at 2 p.m. ET on FS1 and at 2:30 p.m. ET on MRN.
Bell is the defending winner of the Shriners Children’s 500, while Logano won the last time the Cup Series visited Phoenix in November.
