NASCAR Chicago Street Course 2024 starting lineup: Kyle Larson takes fifth pole of year for Grant Park 165

Kyle Larson won the pole for the Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Course in qualifying on Saturday afternoon, posting a lap of 87.836 (90.168 MPH) in the final round to earn his fifth pole of the 2024 season by a mere tenth over Ty Gibbs. Larson has now set a new career-high mark for poles in a season, improving on his previous best mark of four poles in 2022.

Saturday's practice and qualifying session for the Cup Series was an eventful one as the field re-acclimated themselves to Chicago, the lone street course on the NASCAR calendar. Multiple drivers wound up either spinning or backing into the barriers, including Corey LaJoie, Josh Berry, and Brad Keselowski in the final round. The most major accident of the afternoon belonged to Harrison Burton, who locked up his rear tires early entering turn 6 and wound up taking a driver's side hit into the tire barrier.

While Chris Buescher was among those who was able to keep his car straight and on-course, he did make solid left rear contact with a barrier at the exit of turn 5 that resulted in a broken toe link. William Byron's team, meanwhile, encountered a steering issue that they will have to fix, which will force Byron to start Sunday's race from the rear of the field.

The No. 66 MBM Motorsports team failed pre-qualifying tech inspection three times on Friday, meaning that driver Josh Bilicki was disallowed from making a qualifying lap on Saturday and will have to serve a drive-through pit road penalty after taking the green flag on race day. Bilicki's team also lost pit selection and had a crew member ejected from the race weekend.

Shane van Gisbergen, who one year ago in Chicago's inaugural race became the first driver in NASCAR's modern era to win in his Cup Series debut, qualified fifth as he looks to defend his victory.

Grant Park 165 starting lineup

1. #5 - Kyle Larson
2. #54 - Ty Gibbs
3. #34 - Michael McDowell
4. #45 - Tyler Reddick
5. #16 - Shane van Gisbergen
6. #23 - Bubba Wallace
7. #20 - Christopher Bell
8. #48 - Alex Bowman
9. #99 - Daniel Suarez
10. #6 - Brad Keselowski
11. #11 - Denny Hamlin
12. #42 - John Hunter Nemechek
13. #77 - Carson Hocevar (R)
14. #1 - Ross Chastain
15. #3 - Austin Dillon
16. #17 - Chris Buescher
17. #12 - Ryan Blaney
18. #9 - Chase Elliott
19. #8 - Kyle Busch
20. #7 - Corey LaJoie
21. #2 - Austin Cindric
22. #14 - Chase Briscoe
23. #51 - Justin Haley
24. #19 - Martin Truex Jr.
25. #43 - Erik Jones
26. #38 - Todd Gilliland
27. #24 - William Byron
28. #10 - Noah Gragson
29. #41 - Ryan Preece
30. #71 - Zane Smith (R)
31. #21 - Harrison Burton
32. #22 - Joey Logano
33. #47 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
34. #33 - Austin Hill
35. #31 - Daniel Hemric
36. #4 - Josh Berry (R)
37. #13 - A.J. Allmendinger
38. #60 - Joey Hand
39. #66 - Josh Bilicki
40. #15 - Kaz Grala (R)