NASCAR at Charlotte 2019 Qualifying Results: William Byron Secures Pole Position

Racing on his hometown track seems to agree with William Byron, who captured the pole position for Sunday's Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Byron (103.198 mph) crossed the finish line 0.094 seconds ahead of Alex Bowman (103.078 mph) to earn the top spot. The Hendrick Motorsports driver's fifth pole of the season ties Kevin Harvick for most on the Monster Energy Cup circuit in 2019.

Here's the full starting grid for the final Round of 16 playoff race, via NASCAR.com:

Row 1: William Byron (Pole Winner), Alex Bowman

Row 2: Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson

Row 3: Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick

Row 4: Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr.

Row 5: Ryan Blaney, Paul Menard

Row 6: Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher

Row 7: Daniel Suarez, Ryan Preece

Row 8: Erik Jones, Aric Almirola

Row 9: Kyle Busch, Matt DiBenedetto

Row 10: Chase Elliott, Daniel Hemric

Row 11: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Michael McDowell

Row 12: Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman

Row 13: Bubba Wallace, Corey LaJoie

Row 14: David Ragan, Denny Hamlin

Row 15: Ty Dillon, Austin Dillon

Row 16: Cody Ware, Landon Cassill

Row 17: Timmy Hill, Josh Bilicki

Row 18: Garrett Smithley, Matt Tifft

Row 19: Ross Chastain, Reed Sorensen

Row 20: Joe Nemechek, Parker Kligerman

Byron took an aggressive approach in qualifying, especially during the final round when a cloud of smoke appeared to form around one of his tires:

Both times NASCAR has set up shop at Charlotte Motor Speedway have produced good qualifying results for Byron. He also started in the first position at the Coca-Cola 600 in May. The No. 24 driver was unable to capitalize on that during the actual race, ultimately finishing in ninth place. 

"You know, road courses were a big struggle for me when I first started racing and I've progressively gotten better and I really enjoy them now," Byron told NBC Sports (h/t Jim Utter of Motorsport.com) after his qualifying win. "Now, it's all about racing and it's good to have two hometown poles—that's pretty cool."

In fact, Byron has yet to win a race this season despite his five poles. He also finds himself in a precarious playoff position this weekend. The 21-year-old ranks 12th in the standings with 2,053 points. Bowman and Clint Bowyer are both within four points of him in the final race of the first round. 

Based on recent results at this track, Bowman would seem to have an advantage after finishing fourth at last year's Bank of America Roval 400 and seventh at the Coca-Cola 600. 

At the top of the playoff standings, Martin Truex Jr. shows no signs of relinquishing his lead. The 39-year-old will start from the eighth position in search of his third consecutive victory. 

Kevin Harvick, who enters this weekend trailing Truex by 21 points, put himself in a good position to close that gap by qualifying sixth. He's finished inside the top 10 in four of the last five trips to Charlotte Motor Speedway.