Austin Hill was so close to scoring his first NASCAR Cup Series pole position on Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway that he could taste it. Unfortunately, the final car to head onto the track in the final round of qualifying for Sunday's YellaWood 500 was Chase Briscoe, the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Briscoe, who was the fastest driver in the opening round of qualifying, was able to back that result up with the quickest lap time in the final round of the session, which allowed him to claim the pole position. Briscoe's fast lap time was a 51.466-second (186.065 mph) circuit around the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway.
Last season, Briscoe secured a series-best seven pole positions. The pole-winning run on Saturday marked his first pole in 34 tries this season.
"Yeah, it feels great. It's definitely been a while," Briscoe admitted. "I think last year, we had seven, and this year, we've just not been as good as qualifiers as we were last year for whatever reason. Yeah, just testament to these guys. This is definitely one of those team pole sessions. There's not a whole lot I can really do to benefit it, but I can certainly screw it up."
Hill slotted in with the runner-up starting spot as his lap clocked in 0.032 seconds off the time set by Briscoe. While he was disappointed to miss out on the pole, Hill was encouraged by the great qualifying effort.
"Congrats to the No. 19 [team]. We really wanted to get that pole, but it's nice to be on the front row, we're not starting in the back in 30th or something. All-in-all, solid effort," Hill said.
Now, Hill, who was tapped by Rchard Childress Racing to take over in the NASCAR Cup Series following the unexpected death of Kyle Busch in May, knows his car will drive better near the front of the field on Sunday than he's experienced in most of his Cup starts at superspeedways.
"Yeah, that was a great lap by everyone on this RCR/ECR United Rentals Chevrolet team. We needed this. You know, it gives us a lot of confidence going into the race tomorrow. I don't know how it's going to drive tomorrow, but it'll be fine," Hill explained. "It always is better when you're up front and you're in that cleaner air, it's going to drive better up front."
Connor Zilisch, who has suffered from a very rough rookie season in the NASCAR Cup Series, will start from the third position on Sunday, as he chases his first career victory, and he'll be joined in Row 2 by Shane van Gisbergen, his Trackhouse Racing teammate.
Chris Buescher, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Larson rounded out the top-10 fastest drivers in the qualifying session.
Chase contenders starting outside the top-10 include Daniel Suarez (13th), Joey Logano (16th), William Byron (17th), Chase Elliott (18th), Ryan Preece (19th), Bubba Wallace (25th), Carson Hocevar (26th), Ryan Blaney (27th), Austin Cindric (28th), and Tyler Reddick (33rd).
YellaWood 500 Starting Lineup
Pos | Car | Driver | Lap time | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 19 | Chase Briscoe (C) | 51.466 | 186.065 |
2 | 33 | Austin Hill (i) | 51.498 | 185.949 |
3 | 88 | Connor Zilisch # | 51.518 | 185.877 |
4 | 97 | Shane van Gisbergen | 51.565 | 185.707 |
5 | 17 | Chris Buescher (C) | 51.593 | 185.607 |
6 | 20 | Christopher Bell (C) | 51.609 | 185.549 |
7 | 48 | Alex Bowman | 51.621 | 185.506 |
8 | 54 | Ty Gibbs (C) | 51.678 | 185.301 |
9 | 11 | Denny Hamlin (C) | 51.734 | 185.101 |
10 | 5 | Kyle Larson (C) | 51.812 | 184.822 |
11 | 51 | Cody Ware | 51.802 | 184.858 |
12 | 3 | Austin Dillon | 51.805 | 184.847 |
13 | 7 | Daniel Suarez (C) | 51.821 | 184.790 |
14 | 35 | Riley Herbst | 51.825 | 184.776 |
15 | 1 | Ross Chastain | 51.841 | 184.719 |
16 | 22 | Joey Logano (C) | 51.848 | 184.694 |
17 | 24 | William Byron (C) | 51.851 | 184.683 |
18 | 9 | Chase Elliott (C) | 51.862 | 184.644 |
19 | 60 | Ryan Preece (C) | 51.862 | 184.644 |
20 | 41 | Cole Custer | 51.866 | 184.630 |
21 | 21 | Josh Berry | 51.898 | 184.516 |
22 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | 51.943 | 184.356 |
23 | 71 | Michael McDowell | 51.956 | 184.310 |
24 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. | 51.969 | 184.264 |
25 | 23 | Bubba Wallace (C) | 51.980 | 184.225 |
26 | 77 | Carson Hocevar (C) | 51.984 | 184.211 |
27 | 12 | Ryan Blaney (C) | 52.036 | 184.026 |
28 | 2 | Austin Cindric (C) | 52.036 | 184.026 |
29 | 43 | Erik Jones | 52.075 | 183.889 |
30 | 10 | Ty Dillon | 52.086 | 183.850 |
31 | 38 | Zane Smith | 52.112 | 183.758 |
32 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | 52.131 | 183.691 |
33 | 45 | Tyler Reddick (C) | 52.146 | 183.638 |
34 | 62 | Casey Mears * | 52.263 | 183.227 |
35 | 34 | Todd Gilliland | 52.264 | 183.224 |
36 | 78 | Daniel Dye (i) * | 52.325 | 183.010 |
37 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | 52.456 | 182.553 |
38 | 44 | Joey Gase (i) * | 52.570 | 182.157 |
39 | 4 | Noah Gragson | 52.674 | 181.797 |
40 | 66 | Gray Gaulding (i) * | 52.875 | 181.106 |
(C) indicates a Chase contender
# indicates a Rookie of the Year contender
(i) indicates a driver ineligible to score points
* indicates an "Open" entry
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