Daniel Suárez to Roll From Pole in Sunday's Verizon 200 at The Brickyard

Daniel Suárez snagged his third-career NASCAR Cup Series pole position, and first pole since the 2019 season, in Saturday's qualifying session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Verizon 200 at The Brickyard.

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The driver of the No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Trackhouse Racing, clocked a fast lap around the 2.439-mile road course in 1 minute, 27.968 sec., which equates to an average speed of 99.814 mph. The native of Monterrey, Mexico sits 18th in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings, five points behind the Playoffs cutline with just three races left in the regular season.

However, Suárez's defecit to the cutline will become irrelevant if he scores the win on Sunday. And Suárez feels he has a really good car in race trim.

An additional bonus for Suárez is that he takes the bragging rights as the highest qualifier of the six foreign-born racers in the field.

Nearly a tenth-and-a-half-of-a-second behind Suárez was Tyler Reddick, the defending winner of this event. Reddick, won this race in the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing machine last year. This year, he'll look to repeat as the winner of the Verizon 200 in the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing.

Chase Elliott, who like Suárez, would benefit greatly from a win on Sunday, will start from the third position on Sunday. Elliott, who has missed a total of seven races during the 2023 season due to a combination of injuries and a one-race suspension, would love to find a way into the Playoffs field.

Michael McDowell, who is currently the first driver outside the cutline in 17th in the championship standings, flexed his muscle on Saturday at IMS. McDowell, and the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports team paced the lone practice session of the weekend, and he followed that up by securing the fourth starting spot for Sunday.

Kyle Busch will cap off the top-five starters for the Verizon 200 at The Brickyard.

Kyle Larson, who will compete in the 2024 Indianapolis 500 around the oval at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, will start from the sixth position in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Larson is slated to start from the pole in the Knoxville Nationals on Saturday evening.

Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell will start his race from the seventh position, while Shane van Gisbergen attempts to start his NASCAR Cup Series career with two-consecutive wins from the eighth starting spot.

Alex Bowman and Ty Gibbs round out the top-10 starters for Sunday's race.

The other international drivers in the field had a wide-range of results in qualifying.

Brodie Kostecki (Australia) was the fastest driver to miss the second round of qualifying, and will be credited with the 11th starting spot in the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. However, Kostecki crashed late in his qualifying session, and will more than likely need to drop to the rear before the green flag.

Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) will roll from the 28th spot in the No. 67 23XI Racing entry. While Jenson Button (United Kingdom) will start 31st, and Mike Rockenfeller (Germany) will start 37th.

Kevin Harvick will start his final race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway from the 38th position, and William Byron was unable to take a qualifying lap due to his No. 24 car failing inspection three times on Friday. Additionally, Byron will be without his car chief this weekend, and he'll have to serve a pass through penalty at the start of the race.

Photo Credit: Tyson Gifford, Racing America