BRISTOL, Tenn. – AJ Allmendinger surprised the NASCAR Cup Series playoff drivers at Bristol Motor Speedway, securing the pole position for Saturday night’s first-round elimination race on the 0.533-mile oval. The Kaulig Racing driver achieved the first starting position for the first time in 10 years, completing a lap of 15.117 seconds (126.930 mph) on Friday in his No. 16 Chevrolet. With this, his fifth pole position in a Cup race and the first since August 2015 at Watkins Glen, Allmendinger, 43, became the oldest driver to win a pole at Bristol since Mark Martin, who was 50 in 2009.
Ryan Blaney will start second after finishing 0.003 seconds off the pole in his No. 12 Ford, but the Team Penske driver is in a solid position to secure the necessary 15 points and secure a place in the second round, thanks to his fourth front-row start this season.Getting a pole in Bristol is incredible. Hopefully we can keep it for 500 laps. I know it’s Friday night qualifying and it doesn’t give points or money, but it’s small victories like this for our race team that’s trying to continuously grow. Days like today are nice and give me confidence because I feel like I can still do it. It shows that I can be here.
AJ Allmendinger
His teammate, Austin Cindric, qualified third, followed by Ty Gibbs and Kyle Larson, who is seeking his third consecutive victory at Bristol. Cindric is 12th in the standings and 11 points above the cut line before the 500-lap race that will eliminate four of the 16 playoff drivers.I think our race car is really good for the long run and I’m looking forward to Saturday night. Overall, I’m proud of the effort and being so close to the pole, it’s a good day.
Ryan Blaney
Playoff drivers rounded out the rest of the top 10 in the standings with Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Josh Berry, and Christopher Bell. The finishing positions of the other playoff drivers were: Ross Chastain 13th, Tyler Reddick 14th, Alex Bowman 15th, Chase Elliott 16th, Joey Logano 22nd, Austin Dillon 23rd, and Shane van Gisbergen 28th.It’s the first box checked, but nothing is guaranteed from here. I feel like we did our job on Friday. This sets us up well to try and keep controlling our destiny for the end of the race.
Austin Cindric
