William Byron Seeks 2nd Darlington Win From Pole

Byron looks to stay sharp at Darlington Raceway on Sunday. (Photo Credit: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)

DARLINGTON, S.C. —William Byron, the two-time and reigning DAYTONA 500 winner, seeks his second Darlington Raceway trophy in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400, starting from the pole position.

The 27-year-old Cup Series phenom most recently took home his first Darlington trophy in the spring race of 2023, leading all but 7 laps en route to the victory, after holding off a late charge from Kevin Harvick.

Byron’s pole award marks the beginning of multiple poles for the Charlotte, North Carolina native in 2025, having secured his first of the year at Phoenix Raceway in March. The first seven races of the season, the poles have gone to seven different drivers until this weekend at Darlington.

Byron raced around the 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval in 28.774 seconds, achieving a speed of 170.904 mph to secure the pole position.

William Byron navigates through Turns 3 and 4 at Darlington Raceway during Saturday’s qualification session. (Photo Credit: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)

Ryan Preece, who is coming off three consecutive top 10 finishes, put his No. 60 RFK Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse on the front row, as he starts to Byron’s outside in second.

Denny Hamlin, the defending Cup Series race winner from Martinsville Speedway, qualified in third place. He will be racing alongside his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Chase Briscoe, who qualified in fourth. Briscoe aims to defend his victory at the track from the fall of 2024.

Bubba Wallace placed his No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota Camry XSE in the fifth spot in Saturday’s qualifying session.

Austin Cindric, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, and Michael McDowell complete the top 10 starting spots for Sunday afternoon’s duel.

Last spring’s race winner, Brad Keselowski, qualified in 20th place. Keselowski is hoping to overcome a tough start to the season, having achieved only one notable finish of 11th at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and an average finish of 25.1 through the first seven races.

“I felt good about it today, felt like we had a good plan going into practice and that we are always strong here,” said Byron after claiming the pole position. 

“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. I 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. I’m proud of our team, we had a really good week of prep.”

The Hendrick Motorsports drivers faced challenges in qualifying, with Chase Elliott starting in 15th place, Kyle Larson rolling off from 19th, and Alex Bowman narrowly avoiding trouble by qualifying in 33rd.

“It may be tricky strategy-wise and you can get stuck back there, so (qualifying) matters maybe just a tick more than other places, I feel like our team has really good notes from qualifying though and that will help.”

Byron is determined to take the checkered flag and is aiming for his second victory of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season this Sunday.

Goodyear 400 Qualifying Results