Briscoe rockets to another Cup Series pole in Iowa

Briscoe Secures Pole Position for Iowa Corn 350

Chase Briscoe exhibited dominant form by clinching pole position for the Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway, turning a blistering lap at 136.933 mph (23.093 seconds). This marks Briscoe’s sixth pole of the 2025 season, significantly improving from his previous two poles over four seasons at another team before joining Joe Gibbs Racing. However, Briscoe is still seeking his first victory of the season after starting from the pole.

“It’s definitely been great on Saturdays for our Bass Pro Shops Toyota,” Briscoe stated. “I would love to convert that to Sundays. We’ve been fast on Sundays, too – just haven’t been able to come out on top.”

The qualifying session displayed competitive performances from all three manufacturers. William Byron secured second position for Chevrolet with a speed of 136.435 mph, closely followed by teammate Kyle Larson at 136.429 mph in third. Ford’s Austin Cindric (136.358 mph) took the fourth spot, with Brad Keselowski (136.252 mph) and inaugural race winner Ryan Blaney (136.063 mph) rounding out the top six.

The remainder of the top ten was dominated by Chevrolet, featuring Carson Hocever, Chase Elliott, AJ Allmendinger, and Justin Haley. Notably, Denny Hamlin, a contender for the regular-season championship, qualified 11th.

The qualifying session was tightly contested, with just 0.629 seconds separating 35 of the 37 contenders. Garage 66’s Joey Gase qualified 36th, and Kyle Busch did not complete a lap after crashing during practice; his team will utilize a backup car for the race.

With small margins, playoff implications are palpable. Chris Buescher, on the playoff bubble, qualified 27th, while his RFK Racing teammate Ryan Preece was even further back in 33rd. Alex Bowman, whom Buescher is closely trailing, qualified 16th.

Despite some close calls, like Keselowski losing control briefly in his No. 6, the session concluded without major incidents.

The Iowa Corn 350 will begin Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET, marking the start of NBC Sports’ 2025 Cup coverage.