NASCAR starting lineup at Darlington: William Byron wins pole, field set for Southern 500

Arthur Weinstein

NASCAR starting lineup at Darlington: William Byron wins pole, field set for Southern 500 image

William Byron became the youngest pole winner in Darlington Raceway history Saturday, putting the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on the pole for Sunday's Bojangles' Southern 500.

Bearing a throwback paint scheme honoring driver Cole Trickle from the movie "Days of Thunder," Byron, 21, turned a lap of 172.487 mph to top Brad Keselowski (172.088).

Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch and Daniel Suarez rounded out the top five on the grid.

"The car was really good for us," Byron told NBCSN. "We'll see what happens. It's a really long race. We're in good shape in the points, so we can be aggressive."

It's Byron's fourth career pole, all of them coming this season. By the way, Byron becomes only the third driver to win the pole for the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600 and Southern 500 in the same season, joining Fireball Roberts and Bill Elliott.

NASCAR at Darlington starting lineup

Here is the starting lineup for Sunday's race:

Starting Driver Number
No. 1 William Byron 24
No. 2 Brad Keselowski 2
No. 3 Kyle Larson 42
No. 4 Kurt Busch 1
No. 5 Daniel Suarez 41
No. 6 Jimmie Johnson 48
No. 7 Joey Logano 22
No. 8 Chase Elliott 9
No. 9 Denny Hamlin 11
No. 10 Ryan Blaney 12
No. 11 Kevin Harvick 4
No. 12 Chris Buescher 37
No. 13 Clint Bowyer 14
No. 14 Austin Dillon  3
No. 15 Erik Jones 20
No. 16 Alex Bowman 88
No. 17 Paul Menard 21
No. 18 Daniel Hemric 8
No. 19 Matt DiBenedetto 95
No. 20 Ryan Preece 47
No. 21 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 17
No. 22 Martin Truex Jr. 19
No. 23 Michael McDowell 34
No. 24 Ryan Newman 6
No. 25 Landon Cassill 00
No. 26 David Ragan 38
No. 27 Corey LaJoie 32
No. 28 Bubba Wallace 43
No. 29 Ty Dillon 13
No. 30 Aric Almirola 10
No. 31 Ross Chastain 15
No. 32 Matt Tifft 36
No. 33 Kyle Busch 18
No. 34 Reed Sorenson 77
No. 35 J.J. Yeley 52
No. 36 B.J. McLeod 51
No. 37 Joe Nemechek 27
No. 38 Garrett Smithley 54
No. 39 Joey Gase 66
 

What time does the Bojangles' Southern 500 start?

The Bojangles' Southern 500 is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 1. Live coverage begins at 6 p.m. ET.

What channel is the race on?

The Bojangles' Southern 500 will be broadcast nationally on NBCSN. The race also can be live-streamed on the NBC Sports app or by subscribing to fuboTV, which offers a seven-day free trial .

Arthur Weinstein