Aric Almirola Secures Pole For Talladega Cup Playoff Race

Aric Almirola won the pole during qualifying for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday. Photo: Meg Oliphant/Getty Images

Aric Almirola claimed the pole position for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway with a fast lap of 181.656 mph, just bettering the speed of Joey Logano by .004-thousandths of a second on Saturday.

Chase Briscoe was third fastest and will start on the second row alongside Kyle Larson, the top-qualifier among the 12 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff drivers.

“You know these races come down to pit stops really, track position at the end and so having a good pit stall, a clean-in and clean-out, stuff like that, that all matters,” said Almirola, who won the fall race on the 2.66-mile superspeedway in 2018.

“I’m just really proud of all the guys on this 10-team. We’ve been working so hard to put speed in these Smithfield Ford Mustangs and (engine builder) Doug Yates obviously brings a ton of horsepower when we come to these type race tracks.”

“It’s not a secret, this has been a tough year for us,” Almirola said of the four-car Stewart-Haas Racing organization that is still looking for its first win of the season.

“So to show that kind of grit and resolve with everyone continuing to grind and work and bring fast race cars to the race track. That says a lot about our race team. Just really proud. The driver has a small part to do with it at these places, but a lot of it is just the speed built into the cars.”

Five of the 12 Playoff drivers advanced to second round qualifying Saturday. Brad Keselowski, whose six wins at Talladega are most in the field, qualified fifth. William Byron, who has already punched his ticket into Round of 8 with a victory last week at Texas Motor Speedway, will start eighth. Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney round out the top 10 positions on Sunday’s starting grid.

Several other Playoff drivers were just off that pace. Denny Hamlin, who leads the standings in terms of points, will roll off 12th Sunday. Tyler Reddick was 13th fastest in final qualifying, with Christopher Bell and Martin Truex, Jr. 15th and 16th, respectively.

Chris Buescher will start 24th, with Kyle Busch lining up 25th on the grid. Ross Chastain – who finished runner-up at Texas last week – rounds out the current Playoff dozen and will start 32nd.

Among those drivers who advanced to final qualifying and not competing in the Playoff-12, NASCAR Xfinity Series regular Riley Herbst turned in an impressive result, qualifying a Rick Ware Racing car sixth – his best start in four NASCAR Cup Series races. Austin Cindric was seventh fastest.

Going into this second race of the three-race round of Playoff competition, Hamlin holds a 22-point edge to ninth place Wallace, who sits only two points behind Larson. Reddick is 10th, three points behind Larson followed by Blaney (-11) and Busch (-17).

“I think (starting position) definitely helps for the first stage and hopefully we can get some stage points, but outside of the first stage, I don’t think it really matters a ton,” said Larson, who is competing for his first Talladega victory.

“I feel happy we made the final round, but we’ll see. I think it should be good.”

Dawsonville, Georgia’s Chase Elliott was 23rd fastest in qualifying, and will roll off from the inside of the 12th row.

NASCAR Cup Series
Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, AL
YellaWood 500 – September 30, 2023

Saturday’s Qualifying Results

1. Aric Almirola
2. Joey Logano
3. Chase Briscoe
4. Kyle Larson (P)
5. Brad Keselowski (P)
6. Riley Herbst (i)
7. Austin Cindric
8. William Byron (P)
9. Bubba Wallace (P)
10. Ryan Blaney (P)
11. Kevin Harvick
12. Denny Hamlin (P)
13. Tyler Reddick (P)
14. Austin Dillon
15. Christopher Bell (P)
16. Martin Truex, Jr. (P)
17. Todd Gilliland
18. Michael McDowell
19. Ryan Preece
20. Alex Bowman
21. Harrison Burton
22. Ty Gibbs
23. Chase Elliott
24. Chris Buescher (P)
25. Kyle Busch (P)
26. Erik Jones
27. J.J. Yeley (i)
28. Daniel Suarez
29. Brennan Poole (i)
30. Justin Haley
31. A.J. Allmendinger
32. Ross Chastain (P)
33. Ty Dillon
34. Chandler Smith (i)
35. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
36. Corey LaJoie
37. B.J. McLeod (i)
38. Carson Hocevar (P)