Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger took pole position for the NASCAR Cup Series at Bristol.
Driving the #16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro, Allmendinger ran a 15.117-second lap (126.930 mph) of the half-mile Bristol Motor Speedway.
He pipped Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney in the #12 Ford Mustang by just 0.003s.
Allmendiner broke his duck dating back to Watkins Glen in 2015 for what was just his fifth pole position in 475 starts.
It’s the first time he’s ever started on the pole at Bristol in his 27 starts.
Asked how he won the pole, Allmendinger replied: “I don’t know I closed my eyes in both of them, so I’m not really sure.
“This place is so tough to qualify, but the first lap she stuck and I thought, I looked down at the dash like, that’s a pretty good lap, so I’m gonna try for more in the second [lap].
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“I know it’s just qualifying. We’ve got 500 laps around this place. To get a pole at Bristol, that’s pretty awesome.”
“Every dog has his day. Hopefully we can do that for 500 laps.
“I’m super proud of everyone at Kaulig Racing, all the men and women.
“We’ve been building fast cars all year and this Cup Series is tough, especially when you’re a smaller team trying to grow.
“Little victories like this, even though it’s qualifying, means a lot to us.”
Blaney was the highest-placed driver in the Playoffs in second ahead of Team Penske stablemate Austin Cindric in the #2 Mustang.
Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen had a tough time in qualifying, setting a 15.396s in the #88 Camaro that put him only 28th.
The only Playoffs driver worse than van Gisbergen was Chase Briscoe, who qualified the #19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry in 31st.
Van Gisbergen’s teammate Ross Chastain was 13th in qualifying while Daniel Suarez was 35th.
A total of 39 cars will contest the 500-lap race on Sunday, which begins at 9:30am AEST.
Results: NASCAR Cup Series Food City 400 Qualifying, Bristol Motor Speedway
Pos
Num
Driver
Team
Speed (mph)
Lap
Diff
Gap
1
16
AJ Allmendinger
Kaulig Racing
126.93
15.117
2
12
Ryan Blaney (P)
Team Penske
126.905
15.12
0.003
0.003
3
2
Austin Cindric (P)
Team Penske
126.804
15.132
0.015
0.012
4
54
Ty Gibbs
Joe Gibbs Racing
126.72
15.142
0.025
0.010
5
5
Kyle Larson (P)
Hendrick Motorsports
126.67
15.148
0.031
0.006
6
11
Denny Hamlin (P)
Joe Gibbs Racing
126.312
15.191
0.074
0.043
7
24
William Byron (P)
Hendrick Motorsports
126.187
15.206
0.089
0.015
8
23
Bubba Wallace (P)
23XI Racing
126.17
15.208
0.091
0.002
9
20
Christopher Bell (P)
Joe Gibbs Racing
126.121
15.214
0.097
0.006
10
21
Josh Berry (P)
Wood Brothers Racing
126.121
15.214
0.097
0.000
11
47
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Hyak Motorsports
126.071
15.22
0.103
0.006
12
77
Carson Hocevar
Spire Motorsports
126.054
15.222
0.105
0.002
13
1
Ross Chastain (P)
Trackhouse Racing
125.914
15.239
0.122
0.017
14
45
Tyler Reddick (P)
23XI Racing
125.856
15.246
0.129
0.007
15
48
Alex Bowman (P)
Hendrick Motorsports
125.757
15.258
0.141
0.012
16
9
Chase Elliott (P)
Hendrick Motorsports
125.65
15.271
0.154
0.013
17
7
Justin Haley
Spire Motorsports
125.642
15.272
0.155
0.001
18
6
Brad Keselowski
RFK Racing
125.633
15.273
0.156
0.001
19
42
John Hunter Nemechek
Legacy Motor Club
125.633
15.273
0.156
0.000
20
60
Ryan Preece
RFK Racing
125.568
15.281
0.164
0.008
21
17
Chris Buescher
RFK Racing
125.494
15.29
0.173
0.009
22
22
Joey Logano (P)
Team Penske
125.428
15.298
0.181
0.008
23
3
Austin Dillon (P)
Richard Childress Racing
125.15
15.332
0.215
0.034
24
38
Zane Smith
Front Row Motorsports
125.052
15.344
0.227
0.012
25
71
Michael McDowell
Spire Motorsports
124.914
15.361
0.244
0.017
26
41
Cole Custer
Haas Factory Team
124.8
15.375
0.258
0.014
27
43
Erik Jones
Legacy Motor Club
124.695
15.388
0.271
0.013
28
88
Shane Van Gisbergen # (P)
Trackhouse Racing
124.63
15.396
0.279
0.008
29
35
Riley Herbst #
23XI Racing
124.622
15.397
0.28
0.001
30
4
Noah Gragson
Front Row Motorsports
124.581
15.402
0.285
0.005
31
19
Chase Briscoe (P)
Joe Gibbs Racing
124.347
15.431
0.314
0.029
32
8
Kyle Busch
Richard Childress Racing
124.339
15.432
0.315
0.001
33
33
Austin Hill(i)
Richard Childress Racing
123.953
15.48
0.363
0.048
34
51
Cody Ware
Rick Ware Racing
123
15.6
0.483
0.120
35
99
Daniel Suarez
Trackhouse Racing
122.905
15.612
0.495
0.012
36
34
Todd Gilliland
Front Row Motorsports
122.756
15.631
0.514
0.019
37
10
Ty Dillon
Kaulig Racing
122.552
15.657
0.540
0.026
38
67
Corey Heim(i)
23XI Racing
122.427
15.673
0.556
0.016
39
66
Chad Finchum
Garage 66
119.522
16.054
0.937
o0.381
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