I don’t know how many people had Alex Bowman making a long-sustained Playoff run on their NASCAR Cup Series Playoff brackets, but heading into Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the final race of the Round of 16, Bowman and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team have been among the best in the series.
Bowman kept his hot streak going as he streaked to his first pole position of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season in Friday afternoon’s qualifying session. Bowman cranked off a lap of 15.142 seconds (126.720 mph) to secure the top spot in the starting lineup for Saturday’s race.
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Bowman wasn’t sure what to expect in qualifying after he felt the No. 48 team struggled in practice. However, in qualifying, the car felt good, but he wasn’t sure until the scoring showed where he ranked if it was truly a good lap or not.
“I thought we struggled a little bit in practice, more than I was expecting. And then, really in qualifying, just I had a lot of grip. I was a little bit too tight, and it was one of those situations where you run a lap, and you’re like, it’s either going to be really good or really slow,” Bowman explained.
Turned out, it was really good. Good enough for the pole, and now, Bowman will attempt to advance to the next round of the Playoffs from the best possible starting spot in the field.
“Thankful to start up front. Qualify well. Obviously, qualifying has been not our strong suit over the years. So, being a cutoff race and everything, starting up front is important,” Bowman said.
Joining Bowman on the front row of Saturday’s race will be his Hendrick Motorsports teammate and fellow Playoff contender Kyle Larson, who clocked in with the third-fastest time of the session overall, just 0.041 seconds off of the fast time set by Bowman.
William Byron, who turned the second-fastest lap in the final round of the session at just 0.003 seconds off of Bowman’s time, will start from the third position. Byron securing the third starting spot capped off a Hendrick Motorsports sweep of the top-three starting spots.
Martin Truex Jr., Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Carson Hocevar, Denny Hamlin, Corey LaJoie, and Chase Elliott will round out the top-10 starters in Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race.
Of the 16 Playoff drivers, five will start outside of the top-20 on Saturday evening. Daniel Suarez (35th) will start the furthest back of any Playoff contender in Saturday night’s race.
Here is a breakdown of where all of the Playoff drivers will start in the final race of the Round of 16:
1st: Alex Bowman
2nd: Kyle Larson
3rd: William Byron
4th: Martin Truex Jr.
5th: Chase Briscoe
6th: Christopher Bell
8th: Denny Hamlin
10th: Chase Elliott
13th: Ty Gibbs
15th: Tyler Reddick
20th: Joey Logano
22nd: Ryan Blaney
23rd: Brad Keselowski
27th: Austin Cindric
34th: Harrison Burton
35th: Daniel Suarez
Heading into Saturday night’s event at Bristol, Gibbs and Briscoe are tied at six points above the cutline. Hamlin is the first driver below the cutline at -6 points, and he is followed by Keselowski (-12), Truex (-14), and Burton (-20).
