Continuing the speed he showed in round one of qualifying, Spire Motorsports’ Michael McDowell earned the pole position at Talladega Superspeedway in round two with a 182.466-mph lap.
The pole is McDowell’s second of the season and the eighth of his NASCAR Cup Series career, and he outlasted Chase Briscoe, the 2025 qualifying king, who will start alongside McDowell on the front row.
Kyle Busch got his weekend off to a good start with a third-place effort, while Ford drivers Austin Cindric and Ryan Preece rounded out the top-five behind him.
Josh Berry clocked in sixth, while Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney were the only other playoff drivers aside from Briscoe to qualify in the top 10, qualifying 7th and 8th, respectively. Toyota wrapped up its stronghold inside the top 10 with 23XI Racing teammates Riley Herbst and Bubba Wallace earning strong starts in ninth and 10th, respectively.
Over half of the playoff drivers qualified outside the top 10, led by William Byron in 13th, who is in need of a good run after his Las Vegas misfortune with Ty Dillon. Joey Logano and Vegas winner Denny Hamlin roll off 16th and 17th, respectively, with Kyle Larson not far behind in 19th. Chase Elliott could only muster a 23rd-place effort as he looks to dig himself out of a big points hole.
YellaWood 500 Starting Lineup
The Cup Series is back on network TV this week, where the round of 8 continues on Sunday (Oct. 19) from Talladega at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.
Thomas is in his first year covering NASCAR at Frontstretch. A Bay Area NASCAR fan for over 15+ years, he found his love for the sport through Jeff Gordon.
Thomas has enjoyed several trips to Sonoma Raceway in his time and currently covers college football in the Bay Area, also writing about the California Golden Bears.