Michael McDowell soars to NASCAR Cup Series pole at Talladega
Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images
TALLADEGA, Ala.—Michael McDowell may be driving for a new team this year, but the Spire Motorsports driver still proved himself to be one of the fastest at a superspeedway, earning the Busch Light Pole Award for Sunday’s YellaWood 500 Round of 8 playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway (2 p.m. ET, NBC, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Peacock).
McDowell turned in a lap of 182.466 mph in the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Saturday afternoon to claim the lead position in Sunday’s pivotal NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs race — the second of the final three-race round to determine which four drivers will be championship-eligible in the Nov. 2 finale at Phoenix Raceway.
McDowell bettered playoff driver Chase Briscoe by a slight .019 seconds on the lap around the 2.66-mile track. It’s the eighth pole position of McDowell’s career and the second of the 2025 season, matching his work at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March.
“You know, Talladega for qualifying, there’s not a whole lot the driver does but try not to make any mistakes,” said the 40-year-old Arizona native McDowell, the 2021 Daytona 500 winner.
“We were looking forward to seeing where our car was at and if we made any gains from the first two superspeedway races. We didn’t know where we were at today just because we didn’t have the baseline [at the rained-out qualifying session] at Daytona [this summer]. We’ve worked really hard to find some speed, everybody at Hendrick engine shop as well, just trying to catch up at these superspeedways.
“Having a fast car is important, and being able to lead lanes and control lanes, you have to have speed to do that. The pole is awesome, but more important, just knowing you have a fast car going into the race tomorrow.
Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch was third fastest in the No. 8 Chevrolet, followed by the Fords of Team Penske’s Austin Cindric, RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece and Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry — all non-playoff competitors.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell and Penske’s Ryan Blaney — both among the eight-driver playoff field — will start seventh and eighth, followed by non-playoff drivers, 23XI Racing teammates Riley Herbst and Bubba Wallace.
The Regular Season Champion, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, will roll off 13th in the No. 24 Chevrolet with Penske’s Joey Logano and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin starting 16th and 17th. Hendrick teammates Kyle Larson (19th) and Chase Elliott (25th) round out the playoff field on the starting grid.
Hamlin already earned a position in the Championship 4 with a victory last week at Las Vegas. Larson goes into the race with a 35-point advantage above the cutline with JGR teammates Bell (plus-20) and Briscoe (plus-15) currently above the line.
Byron (minus-15), Elliott (minus-23), Logano (minus-24) and Blaney (minus-31) are below the elimination line. Elliott, Logano and Blaney are all former Talladega race winners.
Hyak Motorsports’ driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is the defending race winner and will roll off 37th in the 40-car field.
NASCAR Cup Series
Starting Line Up by Row
Talladega Superspeedway
YellaWood 500
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 10/18/2025 @ 03:15 PM Eastern
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 71 Michael McDowell Carolina Handling Chevrolet 52.481 182.466
2 19 Chase Briscoe (P) Bass Pro Shops Toyota 52.500 182.400
Row 2: 3 8 Kyle Busch Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet 52.558 182.199
4 2 Austin Cindric Discount Tire Ford 52.563 182.181
Row 3: 5 60 Ryan Preece Trimble Ford 52.582 182.116
6 21 Josh Berry Eero Ford 52.614 182.005
Row 4: 7 20 Christopher Bell (P) DEWALT Toyota 52.660 181.846
8 12 Ryan Blaney (P) Menards/Dutch Boy Ford 52.679 181.780
Row 5: 9 35 Riley Herbst # Monster Energy Zero Sugar Toyota 52.692 181.735
10 23 Bubba Wallace Columbia Toyota 52.694 181.728
Row 6: 11 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 52.769 181.470
12 41 Cole Custer Sysco RaceTrac Ford 52.773 181.456
Row 7: 13 24 William Byron (P) Raptor Chevrolet 52.774 181.453
14 17 Chris Buescher Kroger/Thomas' High Protein Bagels Ford 52.802 181.357
Row 8: 15 45 Tyler Reddick The Beast Toyota 52.810 181.329
16 22 Joey Logano (P) Shell Pennzoil Ford 52.819 181.298
Row 9: 17 11 Denny Hamlin (P) National Debt Relief Toyota 52.821 181.292
18 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 52.854 181.178
Row 10: 19 5 Kyle Larson (P) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 52.871 181.120
20 6 Brad Keselowski BuildSubmarines.com Ford 52.889 181.058
Row 11: 21 3 Austin Dillon Breztri Chevrolet 52.918 180.959
22 7 Justin Haley Gainbridge Assets Chevrolet 52.937 180.894
Row 12: 23 38 Zane Smith Benebone Ford 52.945 180.867
24 1 Ross Chastain Busch Light Hunting Chevrolet 52.955 180.833
Row 13: 25 9 Chase Elliott (P) NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 52.959 180.819
26 99 Daniel Suarez Freeway Insurance Chevrolet 52.981 180.744
Row 14: 27 34 Todd Gilliland Love's Travel Stops Ford 52.996 180.693
28 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 53.000 180.679
Row 15: 29 10 Ty Dillon Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet 53.009 180.649
30 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 53.022 180.604
Row 16: 31 88 Shane Van Gisbergen # WeatherTech Chevrolet 53.098 180.346
32 77 Carson Hocevar Modo Casino Chevrolet 53.113 180.295
Row 17: 33 33 Austin Hill(i) United Rentals Chevrolet 53.115 180.288
34 16 AJ Allmendinger Black's Tire Chevrolet 53.122 180.264
Row 18: 35 51 Cody Ware Arby's Steak Nuggets Ford 53.245 179.848
36 4 Noah Gragson Rush Truck Centers Ford 53.327 179.571
Row 19: 37 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JackLinks Non-Vegan Chevrolet 53.430 179.225
38 62 Anthony Alfredo(i) LIL' DUDE Wipes Bubble Bum Chevrolet 53.483 179.048
Row 20: 39 78 BJ McLeod(i) Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet 53.632 178.550
40 66 Casey Mears SI Yachts Ford 53.930 177.564
Did Not Qualify: None.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 18 0 Ford 13 0
Toyota 9 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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