Bubba Wallace will have track position and the best pit stall Sunday night at Darlington Raceway as he tries to fight his way into the Cup Series postseason.
Wallace won the pole for the Southern 500 with a lap of 167.146mph (29.421s). It is his third career pole in the Cup Series and first at Darlington Raceway. Wallace has now started eighth or better in four of his last six starts at Darlington.
“I can’t say enough about this team,” Wallace said. “It’s [an awesome] effort. It’s been an up-and-down year, but we’ve been really hot the last couple of months or so and have been executing and firing on all cylinders and that’s what it takes. I wanted it to be a great weekend, and you [have] to start on Saturdays and we did that.
“I wasn’t happy with practice. Honestly, I was pretty [mad] about being sixth or seventh, wherever we were, so I had a little redemption to do. I can’t say enough about everybody back at Air Speed, part of this 23XI group, the No. 23 car. Air Force being on the car — so many good things [happen] with them. A lot of good things are pointing our way, but God, it’s the Southern 500, so we have to work [hard] tomorrow.”
Carson Hocevar qualified a career-best second for Spire Motorsports at 167.010mph.
Chase Briscoe qualified third at 166.270mph; Kyle Larson, fourth at 167.015mph and Martin Truex Jr. completed the top five at 166.236mph.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]
Tyler Reddick qualified sixth at 167.004mph; Ryan Blaney, seventh at 166.040mph; William Byron, eighth at 166.540mph; Christopher Bell, ninth at 165.743mph and Chris Buescher rounded out the top 10 at 165.855mph.
“The first round, I thought we did a good job; the team did a good job of making adjustments for the second round,” Buescher said. “We were working hard to try to make [Turns] 3 and 4 better because we left a lot on the table there, but then I ended up messing up Turn 1 a little bit. It is still a good start for us.”
Buescher holds the final spot on the playoff grid over Wallace. Ross Chastain, who can also earn a spot mathematically on points, qualified 22nd.
The regular-season championship battle will be determined between Reddick, Larson and Chase Elliott. Elliott qualified 20th.
Shane van Gisbergen qualified 34th for his first Darlington start in a Cup Series car.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. did not post a qualifying lap after spinning and hitting the wall during practice, damaging the front end of his JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet.
NEXT: The Southern 500 at 6 p.m. ET Sunday (USA).