Bubba Wallace on pole at Texas Motor Speedway
Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images
FORT WORTH, Texas — Bubba Wallace turned in a dramatic final lap of NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday to claim the pole position for Sunday’s race.
Wallace’s qualifying lap of 188.337 mph in the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota around the 1.5-mile Fort Worth high banks just edged the hometown favorite, Texas-native Chris Buescher by a slight .039-second.
It’s Wallace’s first pole position of the season and only the second career pole for the 29-year old Mobile, Alabama native – who is one of 12 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff-eligible drivers in this opening race of the second three-race round of the elimination-style format.
Wallace’s fast lap stopped Christopher Bell’s streak of pole positions at three. Bell – who is also championship eligible – swept the pole positions in the entire opening round of Playoffs and will start ninth on Sunday.
Buescher’s teammate and team co-owner, Brad Keselowski – also a Playoff contender – was third fastest, followed by Ty Gibbs in fourth and Ross Chastain – another Playoff driver – in fifth.
A.J. Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Daniel Suárez, Bell, and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top 10 in qualifying to set the 36-car field. Busch, Chastain, Bell and Hamlin are all Playoff contenders too.
In eight series starts at Texas, Wallace has only a single top-10 finish – eighth place coming in his debut on the track in 2018. His only other top 20 (14th) came in 2020 spring race.
“I held it wide open,” Wallace said with a smile, adding, “It’s all about the people at 23XI, the 23-team and the 45-car as well. We keep pushing each other to be better and better and it’s paying off. I’m proud of the effort, but it’s nice for a moment, tomorrow is the real test.
“Was I expecting it? I don’t know. In qualifying I tend to try too hard and overthink things. I need to stop that and just go out and do. So that was a good surprise.”
William Byron and regular season champion, Martin Truex, Jr. – who are tied atop the standings coming into Texas – qualified 18th and 16th, respectively. Kyle Larson, who is ranked third in the championship standings, just missed advancing to the final qualifying session and will start 11th.
Other Playoff drivers, Wallace’s teammate Tyler Reddick and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney will start 15th and 23rd, respectively.
Dawsonville, Georgia’s Chase Elliott will roll off from the 29th place starting spot.
Starting Line Up by Row
Texas Motor Speedway
AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 9/23/2023 @ 02:36 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Greg Biffle 04/14/12 03:07:12 160.577
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 23 Bubba Wallace (P) McDonald's Toyota 28.672 188.337
2 17 Chris Buescher (P) Fastenal Ford 28.711 188.081
Row 2: 3 6 Brad Keselowski (P) BuildSubmarines.com Ford 28.740 187.891
4 54 Ty Gibbs # Interstate Batteries Toyota 28.760 187.761
Row 3: 5 1 Ross Chastain (P) Worldwide Express Chevrolet 28.769 187.702
6 16 AJ Allmendinger Action Industries Chevrolet 28.823 187.350
Row 4: 7 8 Kyle Busch (P) 3CHI Chevrolet 28.885 186.948
8 99 Daniel Suarez Kubota Chevrolet 28.885 186.948
Row 5: 9 20 Christopher Bell (P) Interstate Batteries Toyota 28.893 186.896
10 11 Denny Hamlin (P) FedEx Toyota 0.000 0.000
Row 6: 11 5 Kyle Larson (P) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 28.718 188.035
12 43 Erik Jones vseverybody.com Chevrolet 28.772 187.682
Row 7: 13 3 Austin Dillon Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 28.797 187.520
14 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 28.800 187.500
Row 8: 15 45 Tyler Reddick (P) Jordan Brand Toyota 28.832 187.292
16 19 Martin Truex Jr. (P) Bass Pro Shops Toyota 28.900 186.851
Row 9: 17 34 Michael McDowell Love's/Delo Ford 28.944 186.567
18 24 William Byron (P) Liberty University Chevrolet 28.970 186.400
Row 10: 19 42 Carson Hocevar(i) Sunseeker Resorts Chevrolet 29.006 186.168
20 22 Joey Logano AAA Insurance Ford 29.010 186.143
Row 11: 21 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 29.026 186.040
22 4 Kevin Harvick Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford 29.091 185.624
Row 12: 23 12 Ryan Blaney (P) Menards/Dutch Boy Ford 29.097 185.586
24 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Kroger/NOS Energy Drink Chevrolet 29.110 185.503
Row 13: 25 41 Ryan Preece Autodesk Ford 29.117 185.459
26 77 Ty Dillon Shelton Companies Chevrolet 29.156 185.211
Row 14: 27 7 Corey LaJoie Gainbridge Chevrolet 29.184 185.033
28 31 Justin Haley LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 29.187 185.014
Row 15: 29 9 Chase Elliott (P) Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet 29.220 184.805
30 21 Harrison Burton DEX Imaging Ford 29.231 184.735
Row 16: 31 14 Chase Briscoe Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford 29.232 184.729
32 2 Austin Cindric Discount Tire Ford 29.277 184.445
Row 17: 33 38 Zane Smith(i) Ambetter Health Ford 29.316 184.200
34 78 BJ McLeod(i) Gunk Chevrolet 29.423 183.530
Row 18: 35 15 JJ Yeley(i) Patriot Mobile/Folds of Honor Ford 29.555 182.710
36 51 Todd Gilliland Biohaven/Jacob Co. Ford 29.571 182.611
Did Not Qualify: None.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 16 0 Ford 14 0
Toyota 6 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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