Dillon Wins the Pole at Talladega 1

Marvin Genter/USA TODAY Sports

Austin Dillon will start on the pole at Talladega Superspeedway. What happens from there is anybody's guess. Even by Talladega standards, there's an element of mystery and potential for chaos heading into Sunday's Cup series race, which is often marked by big wrecks and late dramatics, but a front row start is pretty good.

The unpredictable race track with the high banks alway puts on a show, but sometimes the 2.66-mile track bites those with the fastest cars, and a surprise winner is always possible.

"I mean, Talladega is the unpredictable," five-time Talladega winner Brad Keselowksi said. "It's a lot of what defines it, a lot of the allure of it. It's always been a bit of a mysterious track. The odds here are higher than anywhere else. It's hard to quantify, and I would say with everything that continues to change and how dynamic it is with the rules and the cars and the drivers, there's very much an opportunity for that again."

NASCAR has replaced the horsepower-sapping restrictor plates that have been fixtures at Talladega and Daytona for two decades. The cars have tapered spacers and the height of the rear spoiler has been raised, and NASCAR even tweaked the cars in between Friday practice sessions trying to slow themdown.  In practice, some drivers were reaching 200 mph.  NASCAR toyed with engine specs to slow them down, which was apparently successful.

Dillon led qualifying at 192.544 mph but speeds increase during the race on the long, banked oval.

Drivers seem uncertain about what exactly to expect — even more so than usual at the 2.66-mile track

Keselowski said he expects the race to look "a lot like a truck race that's 500 miles."

Then he added, deadpan: "Perhaps with a little higher attrition."

The buzz has been about the high closing rates and the potential hazards of moves to block cars from passing.

Clint Bowyer, who qualified third, feels that's where the trouble could come with an ill-timed block.

"I definitely don't want to give up that front position, but the front guy seems to be a little bit of a sitting duck,"  Dillon said. "There'll be a lot of movement on the track. Hopefully it's good movement and not cars going the other way."

Aric Almirola, who won at Talladega in October, qualified second, followed by Bowyer, Keselowski and Daniel Hemric. Running up front is a good way to avoid the seemingly inevitable mayhem but Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the last pole winner to start and finish up front. His victory in the 2017 spring race snapped a 10-year drought in that regard.

The starting lineup:

Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Mark Martin 05/10/97 2:39:18 188.354
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 3 Austin Dillon Dow Chevrolet 49.734 192.544
2 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 49.841 192.131
Row 2: 3 14 Clint Bowyer Toco Warranty Ford 49.947 191.723
4 2 Brad Keselowski Snap On Ford 49.965 191.654
Row 3: 5 8 Daniel Hemric # Caterpillar Chevrolet 50.022 191.436
6 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Fifth Third Bank Ford 50.037 191.378
Row 4: 7 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Knauf Ford 50.080 191.214
8 22 Joey Logano MoneyLion Ford 50.112 191.092
Row 5: 9 88 Alex Bowman Nationwide Chevrolet 50.164 190.894
10 42 Kyle Larson Clover Chevrolet 50.193 190.784
Row 6: 11 9 Chase Elliott Mountain Dew/Little Caesar's Chevrolet 50.201 190.753
12 34 Michael McDowell Love's Travel Stops Ford 50.251 190.563
Row 7: 13 13 Ty Dillon GEICO Chevrolet 50.310 190.340
14 1 Kurt Busch Monster Energy Chevrolet 50.316 190.317
Row 8: 15 38 David Ragan Shriners Hospital for Children Ford 50.344 190.211
16 41 Daniel Suarez Coca-Cola Orange Vanilla Ford 50.419 189.928
Row 9: 17 21 Paul Menard Quick Land Tire & Auto Center Ford 50.421 189.921
18 36 Matt Tifft # Surface Suncreen/Tunity Ford 50.447 189.823
Row 10: 19 4 Kevin Harvick Busch Beer Flannel Ford 50.450 189.812
20 19 Martin Truex Jr Bass Pro Shops Toyota 50.482 189.691
Row 11: 21 48 Jimmie Johnson Ally Chevrolet 50.519 189.552
22 18 Kyle Busch M&M's Chocolate Bar Toyota 50.593 189.275
Row 12: 23 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Express Toyota 50.596 189.264
24 6 Ryan Newman Acorns Ford 50.614 189.197
Row 13: 25 24 William Byron Hertz Chevrolet 50.699 188.879
26 95 Matt DiBenedetto Procore Toyota 50.817 188.441
Row 14: 27 20 Erik Jones STANLEY Toyota 50.821 188.426
28 43 Bubba Wallace World Wide Technology Chevrolet 50.870 188.245
Row 15: 29 62 Tyler Reddick(i) BeardOilDstrbtng/SthPntHtl&Casino Chevrolet 51.170 187.141
30 47 Ryan Preece # Kroger Chevrolet 51.269 186.780
Row 16: 31 37 Chris Buescher Tide Pods Chevrolet 51.374 186.398
32 00 Landon Cassill(i) Home Town Lenders Chevrolet 51.382 186.369
Row 17: 33 81 Jeffrey Earnhardt(i) Xtreme Concepts Toyota 51.432 186.188
34 15 Ross Chastain(i) Chevrolet 51.800 184.865
Row 18: 35 96 Parker Kligerman(i) TRD 40th Anniversary Toyota 52.081 183.867
36 32 Corey LaJoie Schuler Systems Ford 52.100 183.800
Row 19: 37 27 Reed Sorenson Low-T Centers Chevrolet 52.184 183.505
38 77 Justin Haley(i) Fraternal Order of Eagles Chevrolet 52.197 183.459
Row 20: 39 52 Stanton Barrett HUSKI CHOCOLATE Chevrolet 52.984 180.734
40 51 Cody Ware(i) JACOB Companies Ford 53.148 180.176
Did Not Qualify: None.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 18 0 Ford 15 0
Toyota 7 0

Ron Fleshman

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2019, Issue 4, Posted 10:46 PM, 04.27.2019