Austin Dillon tops Almirola to win Cup pole at Talladega

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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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