FORT WORTH, Texas - In terms of 1.5-mile, intermediate tracks, few come tougher than Texas Motor Speedway.
With its two sets of corners built differently from one another, a unique challenge is presented to the NASCAR Cup Series field in the Lone Star State.
So, solid starting spots are at a premium. And they were on the line on Saturday.
Both William Byron and Kyle Larson will start in the top five for Hendrick Motorsports. Byron turned in the session's second-best lap at 28.189 seconds while Larson was fourth best at 28.21. Alex Bowman just missed a top-10 spot and will roll off 11th after a lap of 28.284. Chase Elliott rounded out the group and will start 29th.
"I felt like I hit (turns) one and two pretty good, I was just right on the edge of being two tight and then (turns) three and four were wide open," Byron said. "Just appreciate all the guys on the 24. They did a great job today. We've been good on the mile-and-a-halfs, obviously, just trying to dial in our race balance and feel like we're really close."
Hendrick Motorsports is the standard bearer in most statistical categories at the quad oval, leading in wins (12), poles (eight), top fives (45), top 10s (80) and laps led (3,150). The team has combined to win three of the last four races at Texas with Larson winning in 2021, Byron in 2023 and Elliott last year. Larson also went to victory lane in the All-Star Race, held at Texas Motor Speedway in 2021.
Saturday racing at Texas Motor Speedway was slated to continue with the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at 2 p.m. Corey Day will make his second start of the season in the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet and will roll off 33rd after qualifying was scrapped due to rain on Friday afternoon. Larson will fill in for the injured Connor Zilisch in the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.
Sunday's Cup Series main event is scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. green flag and will air on FS1.
Where is NASCAR racing this weekend?
All three of NASCAR's national touring series are at Texas Motor Speedway.
NASCAR TV schedule this weekend
Saturday, May 3
- 2 - Xfinity Series race, CW
Sunday, May 4
- 3:30 p.m. - Cup Series race, FS1
NASCAR qualifying lineup for Sunday
- Carson Hocevar, No. 77, 28.175
- William Byron, No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet, 28.189
- Austin Cindric, No. 2, 28.195
- Kyle Larson, No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet, 28.21
- Michael McDowell, No. 71, 28.223
- Ty Gibbs, No. 54, 28.229
- Josh Berry, No. 21, 28.233
- Denny Hamlin, No. 11, 28.248
- Bubba Wallace, No. 23, 28.249
- AJ Allmendinger, No. 16, 28.276
- Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 28.284
- Chris Buescher, No. 17, 28.309
- Zane Smith, No. 38, 28.325
- Erik Jones, No. 43, 28.334
- Justin Haley, 28.337
- Christopher Bell, No. 20, 28.356
- Tyler Reddick, No. 45, 28.363
- Noah Gragson, No. 4, 28.368
- Austin Dillon, No. 38, 28.381
- Cole Custer, No. 41, 28.438
- Riley Herbst, No. 35, 28.447
- Chase Briscoe, No. 19, 28.449
- Ty Dillon, No. 10, 28.475
- Ryan Blaney, No. 12, 28.512
- Daniel Suarez, No. 99, 28.532
- Kyle Busch, No. 8, 28.541
- Joey Logano, No. 22, 28.545
- John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42, 28.554
- Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA 100th Anniversary Chevrolet, 28.588
- Brad Keselowski, No. 6, 28.636
- Ross Chastain, No. 1, 28.658
- Todd Gilliland, No. 34, 28.659
- Ryan Preece, No. 60, 28.696
- Jesse Love, No. 62, 28.935
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47, 28.704
- Cody Ware, No. 51, 28.942
- Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88, 29.193
- Chad Finchum, No. 66, 29.833
NASCAR practice results
- Carson Hocevar, No. 77, 28.288
- AJ Allmendinger, No. 16, 28.389
- Noah Gragson, No. 4, 28.421
- Kyle Larson, No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet, 28.432
- Michael McDowell, No. 71, 28.446
- Josh Berry, No. 21, 28.447
- Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 28.462
- Tyler Reddick, No. 45, 28.548
- Erik Jones, No. 43, 28.549
- Austin Dillon, No. 38, 28.558
- Austin Cindric, No. 2, 28.562
- Daniel Suarez, No. 99, 28.594
- Justin Haley, No. 7, 28.62
- Ty Gibbs, No. 54, 28.623
- William Byron, No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet, 28.641
- Denny Hamlin, No. 11, 28.644
- John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42, 28.652
- Bubba Wallace, No. 23, 28.659
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47, 28.66
- Chase Briscoe, No. 19, 28.681
- Brad Keselowski, No. 6, 28.696
- Chris Buescher, No. 17, 28.698
- Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA 100th Anniversary Chevrolet, 28.712
- Ryan Blaney, No. 12, 28.713
- Christopher Bell, No. 20, 28.738
- Cole Custer, No. 00, 28.748
- Todd Gilliland, No. 34, 28.767
- Zane Smith, No. 38, 28.839
- Ross Chastain, No. 1, 28.895
- Kyle Busch, No. 8, 28.917
- Joey Logano, No. 22, 28.941
- Ryan Preece, No. 60, 28.961
- Riley Herbst, No. 35, 29.018
- Ty Dillon, No. 10, 29.06
- Cody Ware, No. 51, 29.202
- Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88, 29.286
- Jesse Love, No. 62, 29.629
- Chad Finchum, No. 66, 30.388