Qualifying report

NASCAR Cup Darlington II

Southern 500: Bubba Wallace beats Hocevar to pole in dramatic session

The starting grid is set for the NASCAR Cup regular season finale at Darlington Raceway, and things are looking up for Bubba Wallace.

Nick DeGroot

Edited: Aug 31, 2024, 7:38 PM

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It was a dramatic qualifying session for the 2024 Southern 500, which marks the end of the regular season. Wallace, who entered this race 21 points below the cut-line, rocketed to the top of the charts in his first pole of the 2024 season.

He will be joined on the front row by Carson Hocevar in a wildly impressive showing by the Spire Motorsports rookie. Wallace made his way into the final round with a dramatic lap in Group A, bouncing off the wall twice and going fastest of all drivers. He repeated the performance when the pole was on the line, except this time without contacting the outside wall. He beat defending Southern 500 winner Kyle Larson by just 0.023s. Due to the split between the groups, Hocevar will line-up on the front row as he was the fastest driver from Group B.

Cla Driver # Manufacturer Laps Time Interval Mph 1 B. Wallace23XI Racing 23 Toyota 1

29.421

167.146 2 K. LarsonHendrick Motorsports 5 Chevrolet 1

+0.023

29.444

0.023 167.015 3

C. HocevarSpire Motorsports

77 Chevrolet 1

+0.024

29.445

0.001 167.010 4 T. Reddick23XI Racing 45 Toyota 1

+0.025

29.446

0.001 167.004 5 W. ByronHendrick Motorsports 24 Chevrolet 1

+0.107

29.528

0.082 166.540 6 C. BriscoeStewart-Haas Racing 14 Ford 1

+0.155

29.576

0.048 166.270 7 M. Truex JrJoe Gibbs Racing 19 Toyota 1

+0.161

29.582

0.006 166.236 8 R. BlaneyTeam Penske 12 Ford 1

+0.196

29.617

0.035 166.040 9 C. BuescherRFK Racing 17 Ford 1

+0.229

29.650

0.033 165.855 10 C. BellJoe Gibbs Racing 20 Toyota 1

+0.249

29.670

0.020 165.743

"A damn good day"

"That's part of the paint scheme, especially when you come here," he said of the marks on the right-side door of his No. 23 Toyota. "I can't say enough about this team. It's a hell of an effort. It's been an up and down year, but we've been really hot the last couple months or so. Just been executing and firing off on all cylinders. That's what it takes. I wanted it to be a great weekend and you got to start on Saturdays. We did that."

Wallace was notably upset following Daytona calling his playoff position "unacceptable" when his teammate Tyler Reddick is on the verge of winning the regular season title. "I'm a very emotional guy," he added in his pole-winning interview."I wear it on my sleeve and I'll let you know when it's not a good day or a good day, and today is a damn good day. I live for it."

This is Wallace's third pole in the Cup Series and his first of the year, while Hocevar earned a career-first for himself by qualifying on the front row. His previous best was ninth in this year's Daytona 500. Chase Briscoe will start third, Larson fourth, and Martin Truex Jr. fifth.

Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Christopher Bell, and Chris Buescher round out the top-ten. Ross Chastain, who is currently 27 points below the cut-line, timed in 22nd. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. did not put down a qualifying lap after crashing in practice.

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