NASCAR Cup title contender Chase Briscoe won qualifying on Saturday, earning pole position with a lap of 51.466s. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver beat Austin Hill’s Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet by 0.032s, denying him what was almost his first-ever Cup Series pole.
Trackhouse locked out the second row with Connor Zilisch third and Shane van Gisbergen fourth, while Chris Buescher led the way for Ford in fifth.
Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, and championship leader Kyle Larson filled out the remainder of the top ten.
“Yeah, it feels great. It’s definitely been a while,” said Briscoe. “I think last year we had seven (poles). This year we’ve not been as good of a qualifier as we were last year for whatever reason. So, yeah, just a 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, but I can certainly screw it up. So, yeah, it’s just been an amazing job … hopefully we can back up what we did here last year. That would be pretty special, especially just the timing and everything we’re racing for. So, yeah, got a fast car, obviously. See if we can keep it up there now.”
On the outlook for tomorrow with three JGR drivers still in title contention, Briscoe said that “it’s extremely difficult just when you have multiple guys inside the organization racing for a championship. I think the biggest thing is you just know that they’re going to be fighting for every point that you are too. The biggest thing is those guys, our Toyota teammates, that aren’t necessarily in championship contention. That’s where they’re going to be pivotal, just trying to keep points away from the Chevys and the Fords but trying to help us too … It’s hard. You have a big plan here and it never seems to work out. So, hopefully we can go and, like I said, just be unscathed tomorrow and, yeah, hopefully end up in victory lane and be pretty special.”
Briscoe enters this race third in the championship standings, 24 points back of the lead.
Of those who advanced into the pole round of qualifying, four were Toyotas, five were Chevrolets, and Buescher was the lone Ford.
Ware missed advancing into the pole round by just 0.017s off of Gibbs, matching his best-ever starting position in the process
Chase drivers who failed to advance include Daniel Suarez in 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 lowest of all in 33rd.
There were no incidents in qualifying, and all 40 entries made a lap.
NASCAR Cup Talladega ‘Chase’ race starting lineup
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