Story By: TAYLOR SMITH / TEAM PENSKE – BRISTOL, TN
Food City 500 Qualifying
Bristol, Tenn. – March 16, 2024
Bristol Motor Speedway Oval Decal
Ryan Blaney, the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion, claimed his 10th career NASCAR Cup Series pole in Saturday’s qualifying session at Bristol Motor Speedway, an achievement that stands as the 13th time a Team Penske driver will lead the field to green at the at the 0.533-mile short track. Teammate Joey Logano also secured a starting position among the top five and is set to take the green flag from the fourth position. Austin Cindric, driver of the No. 2, will line up 21st on the starting grid. Blaney’s No. 12 Ford Mustang also led the way in practice and logged the fastest 20-lap average.
Ryan Blaney, driver, No. 12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford Mustang
1st
Joey Logano, driver, No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang
4th
Austin Cindric, driver, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang
21st
HEAR FROM BLANEY: “Proud of this whole Menards group. Our Ford Mustang was fast all day – really good in Round 1 [of qualifying] and made some adjustments for the second round. The track really caught everybody by surprise, honestly. The time fall-off and grip loss behind the wheel was incredible, it was huge. So it was, like, who could not mess up a lap and still put a decent time down? That was fun, it was fun working through it. I wish I could do it over again and try to make our car even better because I think there was still some more out there. Proud of everybody at Menards, Ford, Advance Auto Parts, DEX Imaging, Wabash, Wurth and everybody that makes it possible. It’s cool to get our first pole of the year and excited to get going tomorrow.”
RETURNING TO BRISTOL: Team Penske brings 13 NASCAR Cup Series victories at the 0.533-mile concrete oval into the 2024 season – nine of which were recorded by Rusty Wallace, a feat that is tied for second all-time with Dale Earnhardt.
The organization’s last win at Bristol came in the 2020 spring race when Brad Keselowski started from the pole and led 115 laps en route to his second of four wins that season.
RACE DAY: The stars of the Cup Series take on 500 laps at The Last Great Colosseum on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET. Coverage will be carried on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.