Chase Briscoe will have the best view in the house when the NASCAR Cup Series field takes the green flag at Talladega Superspeedway.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver topped Saturday’s qualifying session with a lap of 186.065 mph in his No. 19 Toyota, earning the pole position for Sunday’s race.
Austin Hill delivered one of the afternoon’s standout performances, qualifying second in the No. 33 Chevrolet at 185.949 mph. Connor Zilisch secured third, followed by Shane van Gisbergen and Chris Buescher.
But Talladega qualifying also produced some surprising results further down the order, with several of NASCAR’s biggest names facing the prospect of starting deep in the 40-car field.
Chase Briscoe Claims Talladega Pole as NASCAR Contenders Struggle
Christopher Bell qualified sixth, followed by Alex Bowman, Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson.
That puts Hamlin and Larson inside the top 10, but the same cannot be said for several other contenders.
Ryan Blaney qualified 27th in his No. 12 Ford, with Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric immediately behind him in 28th. Joey Logano fared better, securing 16th.
It was also a frustrating qualifying session for 23XI Racing.
Bubba Wallace will start 25th after posting a lap of 184.225 mph, while teammate Tyler Reddick qualified 33rd at 183.638 mph.
Carson Hocevar qualified 26th, Chase Elliott finished 18th and William Byron landed 17th.
Of course, Talladega has a way of making Saturday’s starting positions look considerably less important once Sunday’s race gets underway.
At the 2.66-mile superspeedway, drafting partnerships, lane selection and avoiding the inevitable trouble can matter far more than where a driver starts.
Full NASCAR Cup Series Talladega Qualifying Results
Here are the complete results from Saturday’s qualifying session at Talladega Superspeedway.
Pos. Driver Car No.
1 Chase Briscoe 19
2 Austin Hill 33
3 Connor Zilisch 88
4 Shane van Gisbergen 97
5 Chris Buescher 17
6 Christopher Bell 20
7 Alex Bowman 48
8 Ty Gibbs 54
9 Denny Hamlin 11
10 Kyle Larson 5
11 Cody Ware 51
12 Austin Dillon 3
13 Daniel Suárez 7
14 Riley Herbst 35
15 Ross Chastain 1
16 Joey Logano 22
17 William Byron 24
18 Chase Elliott 9
19 Ryan Preece 60
20 Cole Custer 41
21 Josh Berry 21
22 Brad Keselowski 6
23 Michael McDowell 71
24 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 47
25 Bubba Wallace 23
26 Carson Hocevar 77
27 Ryan Blaney 12
28 Austin Cindric 2
29 Erik Jones 43
30 Ty Dillon 10
31 Zane Smith 38
32 John Hunter Nemechek 42
33 Tyler Reddick 45
34 Casey Mears 62
35 Todd Gilliland 34
36 Daniel Dye 78
37 AJ Allmendinger 16
38 Joey Gase 44
39 Noah Gragson 4
40 Gray Gaulding 66
Briscoe will lead the field to green Sunday, but the opening laps at Talladega could quickly reshape the running order.
For drivers such as Blaney, Wallace and Reddick, a poor qualifying result doesn’t necessarily mean a poor race. With the draft capable of carrying cars from the back to the front in a matter of laps, their starting laps are only the beginning of the story.
NASCAR Cup Series Starting Lineup at Talladega: Full Qualifying Results for Sunday’s Race