Alex Bowman continued his strong start to the NASCAR Cup Series postseason by winning the pole for Saturday night’s elimination race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Bowman, the final driver to take time in the last round of single-car qualifying, went to the top of the board at 126.720mph (15.142s). It’s Bowman’s first pole this season and the fifth of his career. It’s also his first at Bristol.
“I thought we struggled a little bit in practice, more than I was expecting, and then in qualifying I had a lot of grip,” Bowman said. “I was a little bit too tight and it was one of those situations where you run a lap and it’s like, ‘It’s going to be really good or really slow,’ because when you’re tight, you slow down until you can turn. Obviously, after the first round, I felt pretty good about it and [I’m] thankful to start up front and qualify well.
“Qualifying has [not been] our strongest suit over the years, so being a cutoff race and everything, starting up front is definitely important.”
Bowman goes into the Bristol night race sitting 41 points above the cutline. He leads all playoff drivers in stage points earned in the first two postseason races (28).
Kyle Larson will join his Hendrick Motorsports teammate on the front row, qualifying second at 126.378mph.
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William Byron made it a 1-2-3 sweep for Hendrick Motorsports, running third at 126.695mph.
Martin Truex Jr. qualified fourth at 126.220mph; Chase Briscoe, fifth at 126.486mph and Christopher Bell, sixth at 125.889mph.
Carson Hocevar was the first non-playoff driver inside the top 10, going seventh at 126.096mph.
Denny Hamlin qualified eighth at 125.666mph followed by non-playoff driver Corey LaJoie in ninth at 125.166mph. Chase Elliott rounded out the top 10 at 125.248mph.
Hamlin is the defending winner of the Bristol night race.
Eight playoff drivers qualified outside the top 10: Ty Gibbs, 13th; Tyler Reddick, 15th; Joey Logano, 20th; Ryan Blaney, 22nd and Brad Keselowski, 23rd.
Austin Cindric qualified 27th; Harrison Burton, 34th and Daniel Suarez, 35th.
The four playoff drivers below the cutline going into Saturday night are Hamlin, Keselowski, Truex, and Burton.
There are 37 drivers entered at Bristol.
NEXT: Bass Pro Shops Night Race at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday (USA).