AJ Allmendinger scored his first NASCAR Cup Series pole in a decade Friday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The veteran and his Kaulig Racing team shocked the field with a lap of 126.930mph (15.117s) – his fifth career pole and the second for Kaulig Racing in the Cup Series.
“I don’t know, I closed my eyes in both of them,” said Allmendinger of how he won the pole. “So I’m not really sure. Man, this Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevy in practice was pretty good, and this place is so tough to qualify, but the first lap she stuck, and I looked down at the dash and was like, ‘OK, that’s a pretty good lap,’ so I’m going to try for more on the second.
“We’ve got 500 laps around this place, but to get a pole at Bristol, that’s pretty awesome.”
Allmendinger last won a Cup Series pole in 2015 at Watkins Glen. His last pole win on an oval was in 2012.
“Old dog has his day or something like that,” Allmendinger said. “Hopefully, we can do that for 500 laps, but I’m super proud of everybody at Kaulig Racing, all the men and women. We’ve been building fast cars all year, and this Cup Series, it’s tough, especially when you’re a smaller team trying to grow. Little victories like this, even though it’s qualifying, mean a lot to us.”
Ryan Blaney (P) qualified second at 126.905mph, Austin Cindric (P) third at 126.804mph, Ty Gibbs fourth at 126.720mph and Kyle Larson (P) fifth at 126.670mph.
Larson seeks his third straight win at Bristol on Saturday night.
William Byron (P) qualified seventh at 126.187mph, Bubba Wallace eighth at 126.170mph, Christopher Bell (P) ninth at 126.121mph and Josh Berry (P) 10th at 126.121mph.
Playoff drivers who qualified outside the top 10: Ross Chastain in 13th, Tyler Reddick in 14th, Alex Bowman in 15th, Chase Elliott in 16th, Joey Logano in 22nd, Austin Dillon in 23rd, Shane van Gisbergen in 28th and Chase Briscoe in 31st.
