NASCAR: Bell wins pole for Talladega

Christopher Bell topped the leaderboard in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series Busch Light Pole Award Qualifying at Talladega Superspeedway at 180.591 mph in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Right behind him on the charts was Kyle Larson in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet at 180.516 mph. They’ll make up the front row in Sunday’s YellaWood 500 Round of 12 playoff race (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio).

Rounding out the top five were Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 JGR Toyota, Aric Almirola in the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford and Chase Briscoe in the No. 14 SHR Ford.

Ty Gibbs’ No. 23 Toyota started smoking after his first lap on the 2.66-mile high banks, with the team looking into a possible power steering issue. He elected not to make his Round 2 lap and will start 10th.

“I don’t really know what the smoke was there, but hopefully it goes away. I feel like we’re really fast,” Gibbs told NBC Sports after his run.

No. 8 Richard Childress Racing driver Tyler Reddick also damaged the splitter of his Chevrolet after an incident on pit road. The three-time 2022 winner was unable to slow coming to his pit stall and slammed into the retaining wall. He’ll start eighth after turning a circuit at a clip of 179.366 mph.

“I’ve never screwed that up that bad before … I went to the brakes and it was soft, I should’ve pumped them up a few times coming down pit road. I just screwed that up,” Reddick said. “I’m really glad it was not worse.”

Noah Gragson, filling in for Alex Bowman in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, will start seventh after making a lap at 179.474 mph.

Next weekend’s Round of 12 finale at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval will trim the playoff field to eight after Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400.

Starting Lineup

Pos No. Driver Team Time Speed
1 20 Christopher Bell (P) Sirius XM Toyota 53.026 180.591
2 5 Kyle Larson (P) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 53.048 180.516
3 11 Denny Hamlin (P) FedEx Express Toyota 53.076 180.421
4 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 53.166 180.115
5 14 Chase Briscoe (P) Magical Vacation Planner Ford 53.268 179.770
6 1 Ross Chastain (P) Jockey Chevrolet 53.320 179.595
7 48 Noah Gragson(i) (P) Ally Chevrolet 53.356 179.474
8 8 Tyler Reddick REALTREE Chevrolet 53.388 179.366
9 24 William Byron (P) RaptorTough.com Chevrolet 53.434 179.212
10 23 Ty Gibbs(i) Monster Energy Toyota 0 0
11 22 Joey Logano (P) Shell Pennzoil Ford 53.422 179.252
12 43 Erik Jones FOCUSfactor Chevrolet 53.427 179.235
13 16 Daniel Hemric(i) Celsius Chevrolet 53.433 179.215
14 99 Daniel Suarez (P) Tootsies Orchid Lounge Chevrolet 53.453 179.148
15 21 Harrison Burton # Dex Imaging Ford 53.459 179.128
16 9 Chase Elliott (P) NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 53.461 179.121
17 2 Austin Cindric # (P) Discount Tire Ford 53.465 179.108
18 6 Brad Keselowski Kohler Generators Ford 53.468 179.098
19 12 Ryan Blaney (P) Menards/Dutch Boy Ford 53.471 179.088
20 3 Austin Dillon Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet 53.493 179.014
21 31 Justin Haley LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 53.500 178.991
22 19 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Toyota 53.504 178.977
23 17 Chris Buescher Fastenal Ford 53.551 178.820
24 4 Kevin Harvick Busch Light Ford 53.570 178.757
25 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Kroger/SunnyD Chevrolet 53.609 178.627
26 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Toyota 53.668 178.430
27 45 Bubba Wallace (P) Leidos Toyota 53.680 178.390
28 41 Cole Custer HaasTooling.com Ford 53.709 178.294
29 34 Michael McDowell Love’s Travel Stops Ford 53.764 178.112
30 42 Ty Dillon SunseekerResorts.com Chevrolet 53.781 178.055
31 62 Justin Allgaier(i) Beard Oil/South Point Chevrolet 53.862 177.788
32 7 Corey LaJoie Schluter Systems Chevrolet 54.053 177.159
33 77 Landon Cassill(i) Voyager: Crypto for All Chevrolet 54.086 177.051
34 38 Todd Gilliland # Georgia Peanuts Ford 54.098 177.012
35 78 BJ McLeod(i) NASCAR Rivals Ford 54.740 174.936
36 15 JJ Yeley(i) Summit Racing Equipment Ford 54.936 174.312
37 51 Cody Ware Nurtec ODT UBCF Ford 54.940 174.299

 

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