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Zane Smith wins first career pole at Talladega, full Cup Series qualifying results

JHby: Jonathan Howard04/26/25Jondean25
Zane Smith NASCAR pole
Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

How about that! Zane Smith gets his first-ever NASCAR Cup Series pole award. He gets it done at big, bad Talladega! The Fords were hooked up this afternoon. Smith’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse beat out Kyle Busch and his Chevy for the pole.

Team Penske and the Wood Brothers put all four cars into the top-10 today in qualifying. Don’t sleep on those drivers that qualified middle of the pack. They could have the setup in the race that makes the most speed in the draft.

For now, Zane Smith has the fastest car in Talladega. The No. 38 car won the pole by more than a tenth of a second. Rocket ship!

Kyle Busch will join Zane Smith on the front row tomorrow afternoon. Austin Dillon also had a fast car in the top-10 in qualifying. RCR always brings the speed to these tracks. It’s nice to see both of those teams do well in qualifying. This crowd is probably dying to see Rowdy win tomorrow.

The full results can be seen below. Who is your pick for Sunday?

All cars that entered this race qualified. 39 cars for 40 total spots. BJ McLeod and JJ Yeley return to the Cup Series for this weekend once again. Anthony Alfredo is back for Beard Motorsports in the No. 62 car.

That Hendrick Motorsports group is ready for the draft. Those cars qualified between P16 and P30. William Byron is the quickest of the group with Chase Elliott bringing up the rear of the quartet.

Zane Smith leading the field to green at Talladega

Front Row Motorsports has won the last three pole awards at Talladega. What they have done to that organization’s ability on superspeedways since 2024 is nothing short of amazing. They aligned with Team Penske and became rocketships on these drafting tracks.

Following qualifying, Smith got to talk to Larry McReynolds about his first-career pole. He is more than excited.

“Yeah, I wish I could take a lot of the credit for it, but truthfully, just, man, a really fast FRM Ford,” Smith said. “Titlemax on the car. So cool! Man, a pole sitter in the Cup Series, that’s awesome. Just a huge shoutout to all these guys. They’ve been doing an awesome job this year. So, long race tomorrow, but a great starting spot. Yeah, super stoked for this.”

ARCA is on track right now, then the Xfinity Series racing at Talladega. Tomorrow, we will see Zane Smith lead the Cup Series to green.