By David Morgan, Associate Editor
TALLADEGA, Ala. – Michael McDowell has been a force to be reckoned with in qualifying on superspeedways this season and he was back at it again at Talladega, banking his second pole position of the season.
With a lap of 52.609 seconds, 182.022 mph, McDowell put his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford on the front row for the third time on a superspeedway in 2024.
For teams like Front Row and drivers like McDowell, Talladega is one race that they circle as an opportunity and starting on the front row sets both driver and team off on the right foot when the green flag drops on Sunday.
“It’s great,” McDowell said of winning his second pole of the season. “For us at Front Row, when we went to Daytona and sat on the front row we’re like, ‘Hey we’ve got something here.’ I kind of backed that up at Atlanta with getting the pole and I think we all felt that pressure knowing that we were so strong at Atlanta and Daytona to come here to Talladega and try to repeat and have a really good starting spot.
“The guys put a lot of energy and effort into all of the little extra details that it takes on these superspeedways to get that speed, so excited for tomorrow. I feel really good about what we’ve been able to do this year with our superspeedway program, not just with speed but racing well. I think Todd has led the most laps at the superspeedways this year and we’ve been up front a lot, so it was a great team effort and I’m excited to try to get a Dark Horse Mustang into Victory Lane.”
He will be joined on the front row by fellow Ford Mustang Dark Horse pilot Austin Cindric, with his Front Row Motorsports teammate Todd Gilliland starting in third place. The Richard Childress Racing duo of Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon rounded out the top-five in qualifying.
The remainder of the top-10 starters will be Martin Truex, Jr., Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott, and Christopher Bell.
Larson Denied Qualifying Attempt as No. 5 Team Runs Afoul of NASCAR
Kyle Larson had been on a roll in NASCAR Cup Series qualifying heading into Talladega, having won the past three poles and should have had a good shot at making it four in a row this weekend, however he and the team found themselves at odds with NASCAR officials prior to qualifying.
While pushing the car out to the grid for qualifying, it was discovered the team had made unapproved adjustments to the roof rails. As a…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Motorsports Tribune…