Skip to main content
Join Now
NASCAR Logo

Michael McDowell wins Talladega poll, full NASCAR Cup Series qualifying results

JHby: Jonathan Howard13 hours agoJondean25
Michael McDowell Chicago
Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Back on top again! Last season’s pole-leader has done it again. Michael McDowell goes P1 in NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Talladega. This is the second pole of the season for McDowell as he gets his Spire Motorsports Chevy around Dega quicker than anyone else in the field.

Superspeedways have no practice and two rounds of qualifying. The top-10 in the first round advance to the next round and then go again. Michael McDowell was able to lay down the fastest lap in the second round. Credit his Spire team for building a great car and one that was able to recover quickly between laps.

On Sunday, McDowell will be joined by Chase Briscoe on the front row. Two drivers who are great in qualifying and more than capable of winning this race. Kyle Busch qualified P3. Is this his chance to break his winless streak at RCR?

Michael McDowell out front. Is he going to play spoiler this weekend and take the win from a playoff driver?

A big surprise is how terribly the Hendrick cars performed. Alex Bowman was the top driver in the quartet at P11. William Byron is P13. Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott were P19 and P25. So, maybe a bit of a speed issue with those cars.

Then again, in the draft, everything more or less equals out. Unless your car is damaged, there really isn’t much of a reason to be too worried about it.

I think there will be a lot of NASCAR fans cheering on Kyle Busch. This was the best he’s been on a Saturday in…months? Full results below:

Michael McDowell in control at the start tomorrow. What can we expect from this race ?

Michael McDowell gets the pole over playoff drivers

Tomorrow, the race is going to be intense. From the start, the NASCAR Playoff drivers are going to be fighting for stage points. Joey Logano stated that he has to win stage points in every stage between Talladega and Martinsville if he wants to point into Phoenix.

So, it won’t just be about the finish today. On top of that, you have drivers looking for their first wins. You think Busch isn’t going to door someone down the frontstretch to try and get the win today? Do you think Carson Hocevar wouldn’t get dirty in order to get the job done and claim his first career win?

Spire Motorsports has Michael McDowell in the 71 car for this very reason. He can tap into the qualifying speed of these cars on so many race tracks. He’s a veteran leader and a really solid racecar driver. Can he get Spire a win at Talladega on Sunday?