Michael McDowell on pole again at Atlanta
HAMPTON, Ga. — In Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series time trials, Michael McDowell reaffirmed his mastery of qualifying on drafting tracks, winning the pole for Sunday’s Quaker State 400 available at Walmart at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the first race in the Cup Playoffs (3 p.m. ET on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
McDowell posted one of only two sub-31-second laps in the final round (30.926 seconds), touring the 1.54-mile speedway at 179.267 mph. He edged defending series champion Ryan Blaney (178.844 mph) for the top starting spot by 0.073 seconds.
McDowell was one of three non-Playoff drivers who qualified in the top four. His Front Row Motorsports teammate Todd Gilliland was third at 178.770 mph, followed by Stewart-Haas Racing’s Josh Berry at 178.447 mph, as Ford drivers claimed the first five starting spots for Sunday’s race.
The Busch Light Pole Award was McDowell’s fifth of the season, second at Atlanta and fourth straight on a track that uses the superspeedway competition package. All five of McDowell’s career poles have come this year.
“I’m just so proud of everyone at Front Row [Motorsports],” McDowell said. “I knew we had a shot based on Daytona (where McDowell won the pole two races ago), and we sat on the pole here earlier.
“One thing I think we’ve done really well, we led a lot of laps and our car drove really well… sometimes you’ll trim them out and get a lot of speed, and when you get into the race, it’ll be just a handful. I don’t feel like we’re compromising anything going into the race with the speed that we have.”
Blaney was the fastest of six Playoff drivers who qualified in the top 10. Austin Cindric earned the fifth starting spot, followed by Kyle Larson in the fastest Chevrolet (178.367 mph) and Ford driver Joey Logano.
Non-Playoff driver Austin Dillon will start seventh, followed by Playoff drivers William Byron and Chase Briscoe.
Notably absent from the final round were Toyota drivers. Of the five Playoff drivers in Camrys, Ty Gibbs was the top qualifier in 20th. Martin Truex Jr. will start 22nd, Tyler Reddick 23rd, Christopher Bell 26th and Denny Hamlin 38th.
Hamlin was more than two seconds off the pole-winning pace in the first round, with what appeared to be an engine issue.
“The engine made a funny noise when we were warning it up on pit road,” Hamlin radioed to his crew.
“They see a few red flags,” Hamlin added after his team members raised the hood on the No. 11 Toyota and attempted to diagnose the problem. “They’ll get it fixed for Sunday.”
Other Playoff drivers qualified as follows: Alex Bowman 11th, Harrison Burton 12th, Chase Elliott 16th, Brad Keselowski 19th and defending race winner Daniel Suarez 30th.
Starting Line Up by Row
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 9/7/2024 @ 01:57 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Dale Earnhardt 11/12/95 3:03:03 163.633
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 34 Michael McDowell B'laster Work It Like A Pro Ford 30.926 179.267
2 12 Ryan Blaney (P) Dent Wizard Ford 30.999 178.844
Row 2: 3 38 Todd Gilliland CITGARD Ford 31.012 178.770
4 4 Josh Berry # Decisely Insurance Ford 31.067 178.453
Row 3: 5 2 Austin Cindric (P) Menards/Quaker State Ford 31.071 178.430
6 5 Kyle Larson (P) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 31.082 178.367
Row 4: 7 22 Joey Logano (P) Autotrader Ford 31.083 178.361
8 3 Austin Dillon BREZTRI Chevrolet 31.119 178.155
Row 5: 9 24 William Byron (P) Relay Payments Chevrolet 31.129 178.098
10 14 Chase Briscoe (P) Mahindra Compact Tractors Ford 31.131 178.086
Row 6: 11 48 Alex Bowman (P) Ally Chevrolet 31.199 177.698
12 21 Harrison Burton (P) DEX Imaging Ford 31.207 177.652
Row 7: 13 10 Noah Gragson Overstock.com Ford 31.209 177.641
14 31 Daniel Hemric Cirkul Chevrolet 31.223 177.561
Row 8: 15 8 Kyle Busch Global Industrial Chevrolet 31.236 177.488
16 9 Chase Elliott (P) NAPA/Children's Chevrolet 31.257 177.368
Row 9: 17 17 Chris Buescher Fastenal Ford 31.264 177.329
18 1 Ross Chastain Worldwide Express Chevrolet 31.272 177.283
Row 10: 19 6 Brad Keselowski (P) King's Hawaiian Ford 31.287 177.198
20 54 Ty Gibbs (P) He Gets Us Toyota 31.300 177.125
Row 11: 21 41 Ryan Preece HaasTooling.com Ford 31.304 177.102
22 19 Martin Truex Jr. (P) Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota 31.336 176.921
Row 12: 23 45 Tyler Reddick (P) Jordan Brand Toyota 31.339 176.904
24 23 Bubba Wallace Leidos Toyota 31.354 176.820
Row 13: 25 7 Corey LaJoie Gainbridge Chevrolet 31.386 176.639
26 20 Christopher Bell (P) Rheem Toyota 31.440 176.336
Row 14: 27 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Kroger/Oscar Mayer/Thomas' Chevrolet 31.440 176.336
28 16 Shane Van Gisbergen(i) Acceptance Insurance Chevrolet 31.456 176.246
Row 15: 29 51 Justin Haley Grady Health System Ford 31.479 176.117
30 99 Daniel Suarez (P) Quaker State Chevrolet 31.488 176.067
Row 16: 31 15 Cody Ware Mighty Fire Breaker Ford 31.547 175.738
32 77 Carson Hocevar # Delaware Life Chevrolet 31.555 175.693
Row 17: 33 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 31.564 175.643
34 71 Zane Smith # Ambetter Health Chevrolet 31.597 175.460
Row 18: 35 42 John Hunter Nemechek OLIPOP Ridge Rush Toyota 31.663 175.094
36 78 BJ McLeod(i) Delgado Stone Chevrolet 32.251 171.902
Row 19: 37 44 JJ Yeley(i) US Aviation Academy Chevrolet 32.625 169.931
38 11 Denny Hamlin (P) Mavis Tire Toyota 33.065 167.670
Did Not Qualify: None.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 16 0 Ford 14 0
Toyota 8 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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