Briscoe takes pole for Cup Championship Race at Homestead
NXTbets Pro | Published On: November 7, 2026
Briscoe pole run
Chase Briscoe won the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and Joe Gibbs Racing locked out the front row for the 36th and final points race of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. Briscoe turned a lap of 32.396 seconds at 166.687 mph in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, the fastest run in qualifying and the one that put him first in line for the start of the finale. Denny Hamlin qualified second to complete the front row for Joe Gibbs Racing. The qualifying result gave the team both front-row spots before the green flag.
Championship lineup
Tyler Reddick qualified third behind the Joe Gibbs Racing pair, and Kyle Larson followed in fourth. Austin Cindric took fifth and Christopher Bell was sixth, putting them behind the pole sitter. Chase Elliott qualified seventh, William Byron eighth, Ryan Blaney ninth and Daniel Suarez 10th. That top 10 placed a group of established drivers near the front for Sunday’s race. Homestead’s qualifying order set the starting positions before the laps began, with the first five rows filled by the listed drivers.
Larson title chase
Larson entered the finale as the championship leader, 70 points ahead of Hamlin and 67 points ahead of Bell, and he needed a 28th-place finish or better to clinch his second straight Cup title. That points margin gave him a clear path into Sunday’s race, even with Hamlin and Bell close enough to keep the title fight in play. Brad Keselowski, by contrast, had a rough qualifying session and ended up 40th after getting loose, hitting the outside wall and spinning into the inside wall. The incident left him deep in the field. The final qualifying rundown showed Briscoe on pole, Larson leading the points chase and Keselowski starting from the back after his trouble. With the field set for the 36th and final race of the season, Homestead gave the championship its starting order before the deciding laps.
