Ford teammates Aric Almirola and Joey Logano will bring the field to the green flag Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway in the NASCAR Cup Series race.
Almirola earned the pole in single-car qualifying with a lap of 181.656mph (52.715s). It is Almirola’s second pole of the season (Atlanta in July) and the sixth of his career.
“Yeah, it does [have an advantage],” Almirola said of starting from the pole. “These races come down to pit stops, really, and track position at the end. Having a good pit stall, being able to have a clean in and clean out, stiff like that, that all matters. Just really proud of Drew [Blickensderfer, crew chief] and all the guys on this No. 10 team. We’ve been working so hard to put speed in these Smithfield Ford Mustangs, and Doug Yates, obviously, brings a ton of horsepower when we come to these types of racetracks. Everybody back at Roush Yates engine shops, thank you.
“Thank you to all the men and women at Stewart-Haas Racing. It’s not a secret it’s been a tough year for us, so to show that kind of grit and resolve for everybody to continue to grind and work and bring fast race cars to the racetrack, that says a lot about our race team. Just really proud. The driver has a small part to do with it at these places, but a lot of it is just the speed built into the cars. Really proud.”
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Logano qualified second at 181.642mph. A third Ford, Chase Briscoe’s, qualified third at 181.625mph.
Kyle Larson qualified fourth at 181.549mph and Brad Keselowski fifth at 181.511mph. Riley Herbst, in a third Front Row Motorsports entry, qualified sixth at 181.398mph. Herbst was the fastest driver in the first round of qualifying.
Austin Cindric qualified seventh at 181.285mph, William Byron eighth at 180.932mph, Bubba Wallace ninth at 180.905mph and Ryan Blaney completed the top 10 at 180.788mph.
Denny Hamlin qualified 12th (180.608mph), Tyler Reddick 13th (180.546mph), Christopher Bell 15th (180.502mph) and Martin Truex Jr. 16th (180.431mph).
Chase Elliott, who is not championship eligible, qualified 23rd. Elliott is the defending race winner.
Chris Buescher qualified 24th (180.193mph) and Kyle Busch qualified 25th (179.946mph). The lowest playoff driver was Ross Chastain in 32nd (179.443mph).
Carson Hocevar will start last for Legacy Motor Club in 38th. Hocevar didn’t get to complete a lap because his Chevrolet shut off going down the backstretch.