CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Chase Briscoe won the pole Saturday for the Coca-Cola 600 and will start on the front row for NASCAR’s longest and most grueling race alongside Kyle Larson.
Briscoe, driving the No. 19 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, turned a lap of 182.852 mph on the 1 1/2-mile oval at Charlotte Motor Speedway to edge out Larson, who plans to arrive at the track about an hour before the race Sunday night after completing the Indianapolis 500.
“It’s going to be great to start up front,” Briscoe said. “Adding that No. 1 pit stall, and to be able to race in clean air is huge.”
Briscoe comes in with four top-five finishes in the Cup Series this year, but has yet to win a race.
He also won the Daytona 500 pole earlier this year.
“It's pretty wild, really,” Briscoe said. “I never thought I would get to run a Truck Series race let alone lead the way at two crown jewel events.”
William Byron, who signed a four-year contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports on Friday, celebrated by turning a lap of 182.642 and will start third, followed by Chris Buescher and AJ Allmendinger. Rounding out the top 10 will be John Nemechek, Ty Gibbs, Noah Gragson, Alex Bowman and defending race champion Christopher Bell.
Briscoe knows winning the Coca-Cola 600 pole does not necessarily guarantee success, particularly in such a long race.
Larson won from the pole in 2021, but prior to that the last driver to accomplish that feat was Jeff Gordon in 1998.
Bell won last year's rain-shortened 249-lap race, and is now out to prove that was no fluke.
“Certainly, I have gotten annoyed by people calling it an asterisk win, so I would love to win this race as the Coca-Cola 600 and run the full 600 miles," Bell said. “We should be really competitive. The last couple of years this has been one of our best intermediate tracks, as far as the 20 group goes, so I really look forward to the challenge.”
Last year fans booed loudly after waiting through a long rain delay, only to have NASCAR announce early in the morning hours that the race could not be completed because of the inability to dry the track.
“I want to be a 600-mile winner and not get booed going into victory lane,” Bell said with a laugh.
One thing to keep an eye on Sunday will be how the track reacts to the racecars in Turns 3 and 4, as drivers talked repeatedly about how particularly bumpy it is there.
“It’s definitely rough down there," Briscoe said. “It kind of changes year to year.”
Jimmie Johnson, making his 700th career Cup Series start, will start 37th as he attempts to match Darrell Waltrip for the most Coca-Cola 600 wins with five. The part-owner at Legacy Motor Group is largely considered a longshot, despite his tremendous success at the CMS, where he’s also won the Bank of America 400 four times and All-Star race four times.
“I love endurance events and this is our marathon,” Johnson said. “As a kid watching this before I was ever back here racing, I was always so intrigued by a 600-mile race. Cars back then had a tough time making it. The drivers did as well. It is a long event. I think it is a little harder on the party animal fans in the infield to go the extra 100 miles.”
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Kyle Larson watches as he waits for is turn during qualification for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Kyle Larson watches as he waits for is turn during qualification for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A person of interest was in custody Sunday after a shooting during final exams at Brown University that killed two students and wounded nine others, though key questions remained unanswered nearly 24 hours after the attack.
The attack Saturday afternoon set off hours of chaos across the Ivy League campus and surrounding Providence neighborhoods as hundreds of officers searched for the shooter and urged students and staff to shelter in place. The lockdown, which stretched into the night, was lifted early Sunday, but authorities had not yet released information about a potential motive.
Col. Oscar Perez, the Providence police chief, said Sunday afternoon that the person in custody was in their 20s and that no one has been charged yet. Perez, who earlier had said the person was in their 30s and that no one else was being sought, declined to say whether the detained person had any connection to Brown.
The person was taken into custody at a Hampton Inn hotel in Coventry, Rhode Island, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Providence, where police officers and FBI agents remained Sunday, blocking off a hallway with crime scene tape as they searched the area.
The shooting occurred during one of the busiest moments of the academic calendar, as final exams were underway. Brown canceled all remaining classes, exams, papers and projects for the semester and told students they were free to leave campus, underscoring the scale of the disruption and the gravity of the attack.
College President Christina Paxson teared up while describing her conversations with students both on campus and in the hospital.
“They are amazing and they’re supporting each other,” she said at an afternoon news conference. “There’s just a lot of gratitude.”
The gunman opened fire inside a classroom in the engineering building, firing more than 40 rounds from a 9 mm handgun, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. As of Sunday morning, authorities had not recovered a firearm but did find two loaded 30-round magazines, the official said. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity.
One student of the nine wounded students had been released from the hospital, said Paxson. Seven others were in critical but stable condition and one was in critical condition.
Providence leaders said residents would notice a heavier police presence, and many area businesses announced Sunday that they would remain closed. A scheduled 5K run was postponed until next weekend.
Mayor Brett Smiley invited residents to gather Sunday evening in a city park where an event had been scheduled to light a Christmas tree and Hanukkah menorah.
“For those who know at least bit of the Hanukkah story, it is quite clear that if we can come together as a community to shine a little bit of light tonight, there’s nothing better that we can be doing,” he told reporters.
Smiley said he visited some of the wounded students and was inspired by their courage, hope and gratitude. One told him that active shooting drills done in high school proved helpful.
“The resilience that these survivors showed and shared with me, is frankly pretty overwhelming,” he said. “We're all saddened, scared, tired, but what they've been through is something different entirely.”
Investigators were not immediately sure how the shooter got inside the first-floor classroom at the Barus & Holley building, a seven-story complex that houses the School of Engineering and physics department. The building includes more than 100 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and offices, according to the university’s website.
Engineering design exams were underway. Outer doors of the building were unlocked but rooms being used for final exams required badge access, Smiley said.
Emma Ferraro, a chemical engineering student, was in the lobby working on a final project when she heard loud pops coming from the east side. Once she realized they were gunshots, she darted for the door and ran to a nearby building where she waited for hours.
Surveillance video released by police showed a suspect, dressed in black, walking from the scene.
Eva Erickson, a doctoral candidate who was the runner-up earlier this year on the CBS reality competition show “Survivor,” said she left her lab in the engineering building 15 minutes before shots rang out.
The engineering and thermal science student shared candid moments on “Survivor” as the show’s first openly autistic contestant. She was locked down in the campus gym following the shooting and shared on social media that the only other member of her lab who was present was safely evacuated.
Brown senior biochemistry student Alex Bruce was working on a final research project in his dorm across the street from the building when he heard sirens outside.
“I’m just in here shaking,” he said, watching through the window as armed officers surrounded his dorm.
Students in a nearby lab turned off the lights and hid under desks after receiving an alert, said Chiangheng Chien, a doctoral student in engineering who was about a block from where the shooting occurred.
Mari Camara, 20, a junior from New York City, was coming out of the library and rushed inside a taqueria to seek shelter. She spent more than three hours there, texting friends while police searched the campus.
“Everyone is the same as me, shocked and terrified that something like this happened,” she said.
Brown, the seventh-oldest higher education institution in the U.S., is one of the nation’s most prestigious colleges with roughly 7,300 undergraduates and more than 3,000 graduate students.
Crystal McCollaum, of Chicopee, Massachusetts, was staying at the hotel where the person of interest was taken into custody. She was with her daughter to attend a cheerleading competition in Providence, but after hearing about the shooting, she thought they would be safer staying outside the city.
“It was just weird and scary,” she said.
Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press journalists Jennifer McDermott in Providence and Alanna Durkin Richer and Mike Balsamo in Washington contributed.
A pedestrian walks across the intersection of Waterman St. and Hope St. Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, after a shooting on Saturday in Providence, R.I. (Lily Speredelozzi/The Sun Chronicle via AP)
Pedestrians walk past and glance at the scene of a shooting at Brown University Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, after a shooting on Saturday in Providence, R.I. (Lily Speredelozzi/The Sun Chronicle via AP)
Police caution tape lays askew at Brown University's Ittleson Quad Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, after a shooting on Saturday in Providence, R.I. (Lily Speredelozzi/The Sun Chronicle via AP)
Police tape off hotel rooms where the person of interest was arrested in a shooting in Coventry, RI., (AP Photo/Kimberlee Kruesi)
Police tape off hotel rooms where the person of interest was arrested in a shooting in Coventry, RI., (AP Photo/Kimberlee Kruesi)
A police officer hangs yellow crime tape at Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Emergency personnel gather on Waterman Street at Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Police vehicles rest in intersections in a neighborhood near Brown University, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Providence, R.I., following a shooting at the university Saturday, Dec. 13. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
A police vehicle rests at an intersection near crime scene tape at Brown University, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Providence, R.I., following a Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025 shooting at the university. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Mayor Brett Smiley speaks to reporters during a Brown University news conference, in Providence, R. I., Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Kimberlee Kruesi)
Law enforcement officials carry rifles while walking on a street in a neighborhood near Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025 during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Brown University President Christina H. Paxson attends a news conference addressing the investigation following a shooting on Brown University's campus Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (Lily Speredelozzi/The Sun Chronicle via AP)
Students are escorted by law enforcement officers to a building at Brown University after a shooting, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Providence, R.I.. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Law enforcement officials carrying weapons gather near Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
A law enforcement official walks past articles of clothing on a sidewalk near an entrance to Brown University, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Providence, R.I., during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
