AVONDALE, Ariz. — Ryan Blaney turned the fastest lap in practice and never slowed down in qualifying, putting his No. 12 Ford on the pole Friday for this weekend’s race at ISM Raceway near Phoenix.
Blaney turned a lap of 141.287 mph to keep Penske Racing’s early-season success going. It was his sixth career pole but first of the season and came on the heels of teammate Brad Keselowski‘s victory at Atlanta and Joey Logano‘s win last weekend at Las Vegas.
Chase Elliott will start on the outside of the first row, while Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch will start from Row 2. Keselowski rounded out the top five in another strong start to the weekend.
The biggest action in qualifying came after the opening round, when Daniel Suarez and Michael McDowell got into a fight. Suarez was upset that McDowell had gotten in his way, ruining both of their qualifying attempts, and it took several crew members to pull them apart.