NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — Chase Briscoe is starting on the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway.
Finishing up front on a regular basis is his next goal.
Briscoe won his sixth pole position of the season during Saturday’s qualifying, running a lap of 136.933 mph. Despite his qualifying success this season, he has just one win this year.
“You getting tired of this?” Brad Keselowski joked with Briscoe in the media center after qualifying.
Briscoe got almost the same question when his press conference began.
“It’s definitely better than starting mid-pack or whatever,” Briscoe said. “It’s getting old not converting them to race wins, though, that’s for sure.”
Briscoe noted the benefits of starting up front.
“It just typically gives you a great opportunity to get stage points and all those things,” he said. “Obviously there’s a great pit-stall selection.”
He then added another joke.
“I would love it if we can make a new system where if you get five poles, you can trade them in for one race win,” Briscoe said, smiling.
Briscoe, who was also on the pole for last week’s race at Indianapolis, had won just two poles in his first four seasons in the Cup Series. He had a streak of three consecutive pole wins earlier this season.
“The race cars are really, really good, truthfully,” he said. “I felt like my entire career, even at (Stewart-Haas Racing) in Cup, we’d always kind of over-exceed where we probably should qualify. And qualifying has always been, I feel, probably my strongest thing. And now I’m just in race cars that let me go run really fast lap times. I don’t do anything different from what I’ve been doing the last four years of my Cup career. Just now, my cars are faster.”
Bubba Wallace emphasized he didn’t party too much after winning last Sunday’s race at Indianapolis.
Never mind that it broke a 100-race winless streak and secured a spot in the playoffs. The realities of life, Wallace said, limited his celebration.
“I’ll tell you, I did not go hard after the win — I’m getting older and realize hangovers suck, and also having a kid that doesn’t care you’re hungover,” Wallace said with a smile during Saturday’s media availability at Iowa Speedway. “That made me stop after two beers.”
Wallace, who will start 15th, comes into Sunday’s 350-lap race with a different attitude, knowing he has his spot in the postseason after recent seasons in which he headed into the final weeks of the regular season scrambling for points to try to get into the playoffs.
“I told my team right before we started our meeting (this week), I said, ‘Man, y’all say fatherhood looks good on me. Just wait until you see how Bubba locked into the playoffs looks good on me, because it’s gonna be fun,’” Wallace said.
Kyle Busch will start 37th after not making a qualifying run following a crash in practice. Busch’s car went nose-first into the wall in turns 1-2 after the car bobbled heading into the first turn.
“Got a little bit loose and overcorrected, and smacked the fence,” said Busch, who is 15th in points and doesn’t have a win this season. “Any time you overcorrect and go head-on, it’s not good. So, definitely, not one of my favorite (crashes), but not one I haven’t had before.”
Iowa Speedway’s date on the schedule worked out perfectly from a logistics standpoint for Kyle Larson, who will start third in Sunday’s race.
Larson is halfway through his two-week stay in nearby Knoxville, where he is racing in two of the nation’s top sprint car events — the 360 Nationals this weekend and the Knoxville Nationals for 410 sprint cars next week.
“It’s always a fun time of year for me,” said Larson, who has won three Nationals titles, including last season.
Larson finished second in Thursday’s A-Main of the 360 Nationals, and will start fifth in Saturday night’s A-Main.
Knoxville is just 40 miles from Iowa Speedway, so it works out well for Larson this weekend. The Cup Series is at Watkins Glen International in New York next Sunday.
“Next week, the logistics get a little hectic as we get to the weekend, but that’s all normal,” Larson said.
Christopher Bell not only reached out to driver Zane Smith to apologize after last week’s crash at Indianapolis, he made sure to apologize to the crew members on Smith’s Front Row Motorsports team as they were loading up after the race.
Bell said he called Smith on Sunday night and left a voicemail. But he also wanted to apologize to the team.
“It was a mistake, it was an error on my part that ruined their day,” Bell said. “And so I felt like I owed it to the team members to apologize, because it was such a bad mistake. And it wasn’t hard racing. It was just, you know, a misjudgment on my part. (Smith) did absolutely nothing wrong.”
Bell hooked the right rear of Smith’s car, sending it into the outside wall.
“I thought that I could sweep underneath of him, and clearly you wanted to be on the inside at Indy,” Bell said. “And so I tried to sweep underneath of him, and I tried to make it as last-minute as possible, so that he couldn’t counter my move. And I misjudged my run and ran to the back of him.”
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Chase Briscoe holds the pole award for the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Saturday, July 26, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
Chase Briscoe sits in his car during qualifications for the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Saturday, July 26, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
Chase Briscoe is congratulated by a crew member after winning the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Saturday, July 26, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Uganda’s presidential election was plagued by widespread delays Thursday in addition to a days-long internet shutdown that has been criticized as an anti-democratic tactic in a country where the president has held office since 1986.
Some polling stations remained closed for up to four hours after the scheduled 7 a.m. start time due to “technical challenges," according to the nation's electoral commission, which asked polling officers to use paper registration records to ensure the difficulties did not “disenfranchise any voter.”
President Yoweri Museveni, 81, faces seven other candidates, including Robert Kyagulanyi, a musician-turned-politician best known as Bobi Wine, who is calling for political change.
The East African country of roughly 45 million people has 21.6 million registered voters. Polls were expected to close at 4 p.m., but voting was extended one hour until 5 p.m. local time. Results are constitutionally required to be announced in 48 hours.
In the morning, impatient crowds gathered outside polling stations expressing concerns over the delays. Umaru Mutyaba, a polling agent for a parliamentary candidate, said it was “frustrating” to be waiting outside a station in the capital Kampala.
“We can’t be standing here waiting to vote as if we have nothing else to do," he said.
Wine, the candidate, alleged electoral fraud, noting that biometric voter identification machines were not working at polling places and claiming that there was “ballot stuffing.”
Wine wrote in a post on X that his party's leaders had been arrested. “Many of our polling agents and supervisors abducted, and others chased off polling stations,” the post said.
Museveni told journalists he was notified that biometric machines weren't working at some stations and that he supported the electoral body's decision to revert to paper registration records. He did not comment on allegations of fraud.
Ssemujju Nganda, a prominent opposition figure and lawmaker seeking reelection in Kira municipality, told The Associated Press he had been waiting in line to vote for three hours.
Nganda said the delays likely would lead to apathy and low turnout in urban areas where the opposition has substantial support. "It’s going to be chaos,” he said.
Nicholas Sengoba, an independent analyst and newspaper columnist, said delays to the start of voting in urban, opposition areas favored the ruling party.
Emmanuel Tusiime, a young man who was among dozens prevented from entering a polling station in Kampala past closing time said the officials had prevented him from participating.
“My vote has not been counted, and, as you can see, I am not alone," he said he was left feeling “very disappointed.”
Uganda has not witnessed a peaceful transfer of presidential power since independence from British colonial rule six decades ago.
Museveni has served the third-longest term of any African leader and is seeking to extend his rule into a fifth decade. The aging president’s authority has become increasingly dependent on the military led by his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
Museveni and Wine are reprising their rivalry from the previous election in 2021, when Wine appealed to mostly young people in urban areas. With voter turnout of 59%, Wine secured 35% of the ballots against Museveni’s 58%, the president’s smallest vote share since his first electoral campaign three decades ago.
The lead-up to Thursday's election produced concerns about transparency, the possibility of hereditary rule, military interference and possible vote tampering.
Uganda's internet was shut down Tuesday by the government communications agency, which cited misinformation, electoral fraud and incitement of violence. The shutdown has affected the public and disrupted critical sectors such as banking.
There has been heavy security leading up to voting, including military units deployed on the streets this week.
Amnesty International said security forces are engaging in a “brutal campaign of repression,” citing a Nov. 28 opposition rally in eastern Uganda where the military blocked exits and opened fire on supporters, killing one person.
Museveni urged voters to come out in large numbers during his final rally Tuesday.
“You go and vote, anybody who tries to interfere with your freedom will be crushed. I am telling you this. We are ready to put an end to this indiscipline,” he said.
The national electoral commission chairperson, Simon Byabakama, urged tolerance among Ugandans as they vote.
“Let us keep the peace that we have,” Byabakama said late Wednesday. “Let us be civil. Let us be courteous. Let’s be tolerant. Even if you know that this person does not support (your) candidate, please give him or her room or opportunity to go and exercise his or her constitutional right."
Authorities also suspended the activities of several civic groups during the campaign season. That Group, a prominent media watchdog, closed its office Wednesday after the interior ministry alleged in a letter that the group was involved in activities “prejudicial to the security and laws of Uganda.”
Veteran opposition figure Kizza Besigye, a four-time presidential candidate, remains in prison after he was charged with treason in February 2025.
Uganda opposition presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, known as Bobi Wine, right, greets election observers, including former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, at his home in Magere village on the outskirts of Kampala, Uganda, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)
Billboards of Uganda President and National Resistance Movement (NRM) presidential candidate Yoweri Museveni are seen in Kampala, Uganda, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Samson Otieno)
Electoral workers deliver ballot boxes to a polling station during presidential election in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Voters are reflected in a police officer's sunglasses as they wait in line after voting failed to start on time due to system failures during presidential election in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Voters wait to cast their ballots during the presidential election in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
