Qualifying report
NASCAR Cup Talladega
McDowell wins Talladega Cup pole as Ford sweeps top three
Michael McDowell will lead an all-Ford front row in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Talladega after earning his second consecutive superspeedway pole.
Jim Utter
Edited: Apr 20, 2024, 5:47 PM
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McDowell, whose first career pole came earlier this season at Atlanta Motor Speedway, was fastest in both rounds on Saturday, winning the pole with an average lap speed of 182.022 mph over fellow Ford driver Austin Cindric (181.739 mph).
In three superspeedway races this season, McDowell has started second, first and now second. He was involved in a wreck in the season-opening Daytona 500 and finished eighth at Atlanta.
“I’m just so proud of everybody at Front Row Motorsports. It’s a total team effort,” said McDowell, whose only Cup win came in the 2021 Daytona 500. “We got the front row at Daytona and the pole at Atlanta. We just got that taste of it like, ‘Hey, we can do this.’
“A lot of effort goes into it. The Mustang celebrated 60 years this week so it’s cool to be able to the pole for them. We just got to get a Mustang in Victory Lane tomorrow.
“There’s a lot of good cars starting up front with us, a lot of teammates. Hopefully, we can do all the things we need to do and execute. We got the speed, now we need to put it all together.”
McDowell’s Front Row Motorsports teammate, Todd Gilliland, ended up third fastest (181.401 mph), Kyle Busch was fourth and the top Chevrolet and Austin Dillon fifth.
Completing the top 10 starting lineup are Martin Truex Jr. (the top Toyota), Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell.
CLA DRIVER # MANUFACTURER LAPS TIME INTERVAL MPH 1 M. McDowellFRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS 34 Ford 1
52.609
182.022 2 A. CindricTEAM PENSKE 2 Ford 1
+0.082
52.691
0.082 181.739 3 T. GillilandFRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS 38 Ford 1
+0.180
52.789
0.098 181.401 4 K. BuschRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING 8 Chevrolet 1
+0.254
52.863
0.074 181.147 5 A. DillonRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING 3 Chevrolet 1
+0.360
52.969
0.106 180.785 6 M. Truex JrJOE GIBBS RACING 19 Toyota 1
+0.383
52.992
0.023 180.707 7 J. LoganoTEAM PENSKE 22 Ford 1
+0.435
53.044
0.052 180.529 8 C. BuescherRFK RACING 17 Ford 1
+0.510
53.119
0.075 180.274 9 C. ElliottHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS 9 Chevrolet 1
+0.513
53.122
0.003 180.264 10 C. BellJOE GIBBS RACING 20 Toyota 1
+0.589
53.198
0.076 180.007
Round 1
McDowell led an impressive first round for Ford with an average lap speed of 181.567 mph.
Busch ended up second quick (180.782 mph) while McDowell’s teammate, Gilliland, was third (180.679 mph).
Ford drivers Cindric and Logano rounded out the top five.
Also advancing to the final round were Truex, Dillon, Bell, Buescher and Elliott, who grabbed the final transfer spot while the last car to qualify.
Prior to the start of the first round, NASCAR announced that the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Kyle Larson would not be allowed to participate in qualifying.
The team was penalized for making an unapproved adjustment to the roof rails of the car while it was being pushed to the grid.
Without taking part in qualifying, Larson will lose pit selection and in essence have to start from the rear of Sunday’s race.
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CLA DRIVER # MANUFACTURER LAPS TIME INTERVAL MPH 1 M. McDowellFRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS 34 Ford 1
52.741
181.567 2 K. BuschRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING 8 Chevrolet 1
+0.229
52.970
0.229 180.782 3 T. GillilandFRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS 38 Ford 1
+0.259
53.000
0.030 180.679 4 A. CindricTEAM PENSKE 2 Ford 1
+0.279
53.020
0.020 180.611 5 J. LoganoTEAM PENSKE 22 Ford 1
+0.286
53.027
0.007 180.587 6 M. Truex JrJOE GIBBS RACING 19 Toyota 1
+0.307
53.048
0.021 180.516 7 A. DillonRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING 3 Chevrolet 1
+0.345
53.086
0.038 180.387 8 C. BellJOE GIBBS RACING 20 Toyota 1
+0.379
53.120
0.034 180.271 9 C. BuescherRFK RACING 17 Ford 1
+0.381
53.122
0.002 180.264 10 C. ElliottHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS 9 Chevrolet 1
+0.427
53.168
0.046 180.108 11 R. PreeceSTEWART-HAAS RACING 41 Ford 1
+0.434
53.175
0.007 180.085 12 A. BowmanHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS 48 Chevrolet 1
+0.442
53.183
0.008 180.058 13 W. ByronHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS 24 Chevrolet 1
+0.444
53.185
0.002 180.051 14 B. Wallace23XI RACING 23 Toyota 1
+0.445
53.186
0.001 180.047 15
T. GibbsJOE GIBBS RACING
54 Toyota 1
+0.467
53.208
0.022 179.973 16 H. BurtonWOOD BROTHERS RACING 21 Ford 1
+0.470
53.211
0.003 179.963 17 S. van GisbergenKAULIG RACING 16 Chevrolet 1
+0.485
53.226
0.015 179.912 18 T. Reddick23XI RACING 45 Toyota 1
+0.521
53.262
0.036 179.790 19 D. HemricKAULIG RACING 31 Chevrolet 1
+0.557
53.298
0.036 179.669 20 J. NemechekLEGACY MOTOR CLUB 42 Toyota 1
+0.565
53.306
0.008 179.642 21 R. BlaneyTEAM PENSKE 12 Ford 1
+0.579
53.320
0.014 179.595 22 B. KeselowskiRFK RACING 6 Ford 1
+0.581
53.322
0.002 179.588 23 D. HamlinJOE GIBBS RACING 11 Toyota 1
+0.666
53.407
0.085 179.302 24
A. AlfredoBEARD MOTORSPORTS
62 Chevrolet 1
+0.670
53.411
0.004 179.289 25 D. SuarezTRACKHOUSE RACING 99 Chevrolet 1
+0.673
53.414
0.003 179.279 26 C. BriscoeSTEWART-HAAS RACING 14 Ford 1
+0.714
53.455
0.041 179.141 27 J. HaleyRICK WARE RACING 51 Ford 1
+0.737
53.478
0.023 179.064 28 E. JonesLEGACY MOTOR CLUB 43 Toyota 1
+0.739
53.480
0.002 179.058 29 J. BerrySTEWART-HAAS RACING 4 Ford 1
+0.746
53.487
0.007 179.034 30
Z. SmithSPIRE MOTORSPORTS
71 Chevrolet 1
+0.791
53.532
0.045 178.884 31 C. LajoieSPIRE MOTORSPORTS 7 Chevrolet 1
+0.802
53.543
0.011 178.847 32 R. ChastainTRACKHOUSE RACING 1 Chevrolet 1
+0.849
53.590
0.047 178.690 33 R. Stenhouse JrJTG DAUGHERTY RACING 47 Chevrolet 1
+0.945
53.686
0.096 178.371 34 C. WareRICK WARE RACING 15 Ford 1
+0.979
53.720
0.034 178.258 35
C. HocevarSPIRE MOTORSPORTS
77 Chevrolet 1
+1.026
53.767
0.047 178.102 36 N. GragsonSTEWART-HAAS RACING 10 Ford 1
+1.070
53.811
0.044 177.956 37 B. McLeodLIVE FAST MOTORSPORTS 78 Chevrolet 1
+1.549
54.290
0.479 176.386 38 K. LarsonHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS 5 Chevrolet 0
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