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

Arthur Weinstein

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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. 1William Byron24
No. 2Brad Keselowski2
No. 3Kyle Larson42
No. 4Kurt Busch1
No. 5Daniel Suarez41
No. 6Jimmie Johnson48
No. 7Joey Logano22
No. 8Chase Elliott9
No. 9Denny Hamlin11
No. 10Ryan Blaney12
No. 11Kevin Harvick4
No. 12Chris Buescher37
No. 13Clint Bowyer14
No. 14Austin Dillon 3
No. 15Erik Jones20
No. 16Alex Bowman88
No. 17Paul Menard21
No. 18Daniel Hemric8
No. 19Matt DiBenedetto95
No. 20Ryan Preece47
No. 21Ricky Stenhouse Jr.17
No. 22Martin Truex Jr.19
No. 23Michael McDowell34
No. 24Ryan Newman6
No. 25Landon Cassill00
No. 26David Ragan38
No. 27Corey LaJoie32
No. 28Bubba Wallace43
No. 29Ty Dillon13
No. 30Aric Almirola10
No. 31Ross Chastain15
No. 32Matt Tifft36
No. 33Kyle Busch18
No. 34Reed Sorenson77
No. 35J.J. Yeley52
No. 36B.J. McLeod51
No. 37Joe Nemechek27
No. 38Garrett Smithley54
No. 39Joey Gase66
 

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