Chase Elliott puts No. 24 on pole at Talladega

But the 20-year-old rookie, who earned his second pole of the season and sixth for the No. 24 at this track, had to knock his teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. off of the provisional pole (192.293 mph) to accomplish the feat.

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Elliott credited his crew with the lap of 192.661 mph. 

“It had nothing to do with me,” Elliott said. “This is the same car we had at Daytona. It didn’t come home in one piece. They had to fix it. I’m going to try to cut down on some of the mistakes I made at Daytona and try to have a shot to win it at the end.

"Pit selection is very important and I think that becomes a big factor at the end of the day when you come down pit road with a big group of cars and being able to have that first box is big."

This was also the 208th Cup pole for Hendrick Motorsports.

Austin Dillon, who was the last driver to attempt his qualifying run, jumped to second on the speed chart with a lap of 192.424 mph. Earnhardt dropped to third followed by Matt Kesenth (192.181 mph) and Jimmie Johnson. 

“The car is really good,” said Johnson after posting a lap of 192.116 mph). “The racing environment is a lot different than practice. We’re just trying to minimize our risk on the track.” 

The Fords of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (192.089 mph) and Brad Keselowski (192.008 mph) qualified sixth and seventh, respectively, with Denny Hamlin (191.954 mph), Carl Edwards (191.819 mph), Paul Menard (191.812 mph), Kasey Kahne (191.789 mph) and Martin Truex Jr. (191.581 mph) rounding out  front six rows. 

Earnhardt said his strategy for Sunday was simple. 

“We’d love to lead every lap,” says Earnhardt. “And that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

Round 1

Austin Dillon posted a sporty lap of 192.796 mph to lead the first round of qualifying. 

Rookie Chase Elliott was second quick with a speed of 192.421 mph, followed by the Ford of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (192.386 mph), Kasey Kahne (192.281 mph), Matt Kenseth in a Toyota (192.170 mph) and Brad Keselowski (192.170 mph)

“I feel very comfortable,” Keselowski said. “We have good cars, we’ll just have to see how it goes.”

The remaining six advancing to Round 2 included Dale Earnhardt Jr. (192.085 mph), Paul Menard (191.877 mph), Jimmie Johnson (191.835 mph), Martin Truex Jr. (191.623 mph), Denny Hamlin (191.600 mph) and Carl Edwards (191.581 mph)/

Kyle Busch could only muster the 17th quickest lap (191.164 mph) despite his teammates all transferring to the second round. 

“I should have been in the top 12,” Busch said. “It doesn’t matter where you qualify, but I expected to have more speed in our Skittles Camry and hoped that I had a better start than were that is. But it doesn’t much matter here. It’s every man for himself and wide open times out there. “ 

Speaking of every man for himself, Busch acknowledged he’s yet to discuss last week’s bump-and-run move his teammate Carl Edwards put on him in the final corner at Richmond International Raceway. 

What was probably less surprising was none of the four Stewart-Haas Racing cars qualifying better than 14th — and that was Ty Dillon in the No. 14 Chevy who posted a lap of 191.509 mph. Kurt Busch was 18th quick followed by Kevin Harvick (29th) and Danica Patrick (37th). 

Josh Wise failed to make the field in the No. 30 Chevy. His lap was 185.679 mph.