Qualifying report

NASCAR Cup Talladega

Austin Dillon tops Almirola to win Cup pole at Talladega

Austin Dillon helped bookend a successful day at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway for Richard Childress Racing.

Jim Utter

Edited: Apr 28, 2019, 2:46 AM

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Pole Winner Austin Dillon, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet Camaro Realtree

Not long after RCR driver Tyler Reddick won the Xfinity Series race Saturday afternoon, Dillon won the pole for Sunday’s GEICO 500.

Dillon’s average lap speed in the final round of qualifying (192.544 mph) just edged Aric Almirola (192.131 mph).

The pole is Dillon’s second of the 2019 season and fifth of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career.

“This is a great starting position,” said Dillon, who turned 29 years old Saturday. “Starting position is one thing but finishing the race tomorrow is the big thing. We’ve got to go out there and gain as many points as we can.

“The great thing is we have a fast car. So, we just need to keep this momentum building.”

Dillon said he felt he spun his tires in the first round, which may have cost him a little speed but not in the final round.

“I took a different approach (in the final round) getting up to speed and I think it helped it jump up there a little bit more to get (Almirola). I hope that’s what it was,” he said.

“I think the race is going to be wild. You can get such big runs on the guy in front of you. You better hope that the guy behind you getting that run makes a good move and doesn’t take you out of the race.”

Whatever Dillon’s result Sunday, his No. 3 Chevrolet team could still face a severe penalty from NASCAR after inspectors confiscated the rear deck lid off his car on Friday.

Clint Bowyer was third, Brad Keselowski was fourth and Dillon’s teammate, Daniel Hemric, completed the top-five.

Rounding out the top 12 starters are Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott and Michael McDowell.

Round 1

Almirola, who won this race a year ago, led the way in the first round of qualifying with an average lap speed of 192.324 mph.

Austin Dillon was second (192.108 mph) and Keselowski was third (191.336 mph). Hemric and Bowyer completed the top-five.

Also advancing to the final round were Blaney, McDowell, Larson, Stenhouse, Bowman, Logano and Elliott.

“It seems like in the past, cars go a little quicker in the second round,” Elliott said. “We’ll see what happens and then go to work for tomorrow.”

Among those who failed to advance were all four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers – Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. Truex was the best of the bunch and will line up 20th in Sunday’s race.

Also failing to advance were Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Bubba Wallace and Jeffrey Earnhardt.

Kurt Busch’s No. 1 Chevrolet failed pre-qualifying inspection twice and saw the team’s car chief ejected for the weekend. Busch will also lose 15 minutes of practice time next weekend at Dover, Del.

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Time Gap Mph 1 3 United States Austin Dillon Chevrolet 49.734 192.544 2 10 Aric Almirola Ford 49.841 0.107 192.131 3 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 49.947 0.213 191.723 4 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 49.965 0.231 191.654 5 8 Daniel Hemric Chevrolet 50.022 0.288 191.436 6 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 50.037 0.303 191.378 7 12 United States Ryan Blaney Ford 50.080 0.346 191.214 8 22 Joey Logano Ford 50.112 0.378 191.092 9 88 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 50.164 0.430 190.894 10 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 50.193 0.459 190.784 11 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 50.201 0.467 190.753 12 34 Michael McDowell Ford 50.251 0.517 190.563 13 13 United States Ty Dillon Chevrolet 50.310 0.576 190.340 14 1 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 50.316 0.582 190.317 15 38 David Ragan Ford 50.344 0.610 190.211 16 41 Mexico Daniel Suarez Ford 50.419 0.685 189.928 17 21 Paul Menard Ford 50.421 0.687 189.921 18 36 Matt Tifft Ford 50.447 0.713 189.823 19 4 United States Kevin Harvick Ford 50.450 0.716 189.812 20 19 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 50.482 0.748 189.691 21 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 50.519 0.785 189.552 22 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 50.593 0.859 189.275 23 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 50.596 0.862 189.264 24 6 Ryan Newman Ford 50.614 0.880 189.197 25 24 United States William Byron Chevrolet 50.699 0.965 188.879 26 95 Matt DiBenedetto Toyota 50.817 1.083 188.441 27 20 Erik Jones Toyota 50.821 1.087 188.426 28 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 50.870 1.136 188.245 29 62 Tyler Reddick Chevrolet 51.170 1.436 187.141 30 47 United States Ryan Preece Chevrolet 51.269 1.535 186.780 31 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 51.374 1.640 186.398 32 00 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 51.382 1.648 186.369 33 81 Jeffrey Earnhardt Toyota 51.432 1.698 186.188 34 15 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 51.800 2.066 184.865 35 96 United States Parker Kligerman Toyota 52.081 2.347 183.867 36 32 Corey Lajoie Ford 52.100 2.366 183.800 37 27 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 52.184 2.450 183.505 38 77 Justin Haley Chevrolet 52.197 2.463 183.459 39 52 Stanton Barrett Chevrolet 52.984 3.250 180.734 40 51 Cody Ware Ford 53.148 3.414 180.176

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