TALLADEGA, Ala. — Michael McDowell may be driving for a new team this year, but the Spire Motorsports driver still proved himself absolutely one of the fastest at a superspeedway. He earned pole position for Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
McDowell turned in a lap of 182.466 mph in the No. 71 Chevrolet on Saturday afternoon to claim the lead position in Sunday’s pivotal NASCAR Cup Series playoff race — the second of the three-race round that determines which four drivers will be championship-eligible in the Nov. 2 finale.
McDowell bettered playoff driver Chase Briscoe by a slight .019-second on his lap around the 2.66-mile track. It’s the eighth pole position of McDowell’s career and the second of the season, matching his work at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March.
“You know Talladega for qualifying there’s not a whole lot the driver does but try not to make any mistakes,” said McDowell, the 40-year-old Arizona native who won the 2021 Daytona 500.
“We were looking forward to seeing where our car was at and if we made any gains from the first two superspeedway races. We didn’t know where we were at today just because we didn’t have the baseline (at the rained-out qualifying session) at Daytona (this summer). We’ve worked really hard to find some speed, everybody at Hendrick engine shop as well, just trying to catch up at these superspeedways.
“Having a fast car is important and being able to lead lanes and control lanes, you have to have speed to do that. The pole is awesome, but more important (is) just knowing you have a fast car going into the race tomorrow.”
Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch was third fastest in the No. 8 Chevrolet followed by the Fords of Team Penske’s Austin Cindric, Roush Fenway Keselowski’s Ryan Preece and Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry — all non-playoff competitors.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell and Penske’s Ryan Blaney — both among the eight-driver playoff field — will start seventh and eighth followed by 23XI Racing teammates Riley Herbst and Bubba Wallace.
Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, the regular-season champion, will roll off 13th in the No. 24 Chevrolet with Penske’s Joey Logano and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin starting 16th and 17th, respectively. Hendrick teammates Kyle Larson (19th) and Chase Elliott (25th) round out the playoff field on the grid.
Hamlin already earned a position in the Phoenix Raceway final four with a victory last week at Las Vegas. Larson goes into the race with a 35-point advantage on the playoff line with JGR teammates Bell (+20) and Briscoe (+15) currently above the cutoff line as well.
Byron (-15), Elliott (-23), Logano (-24) and Blaney (-31) are below the elimination line. Elliott, Logano and Blaney are former Talladega race winners.
HYAK Motorsports’ driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is the defending race winner and will roll off 37th in the 40-car field.
–By Holly Cain, special to Field Level Media
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