Michael McDowell will lead the field to green in Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, and after 465 NASCAR Cup Series starts without a single pole, the Phoenix, Arizona-native has earned his EIGHTH in the last 70 races.
With a brand-new sponsor in Carolina Handling on board his No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, McDowell was able to put down a stellar lap in the final round of qualifying on Saturday, claiming the top spot over Chase Briscoe, who has been a beast in qualifying this season.
Clocking in with a lap time of 52.481 seconds (182.466mph), McDowell was able to defeat the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, who is still in the fight for the NASCAR Cup Series championship, by 19 one-thousandths of a second to clinch his second pole position of the 2025 season.
STARTING LINEUP: 2025 NASCAR Cup Series YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway
“It’s something that we’ve been working really hard at, at Spire Motorsports, just getting more speed in our superspeedway cars,” McDowell said after jumping out of his No. 71. “Really proud to have Carolina Handling on the car for their debut race with us, to get a pole is awesome.”
It’s the third pole position of the season (and in the team’s history) for Spire Motorsports, but the first on a superspeedway. McDowell earned the team’s first-ever pole earlier this season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with teammate Carson Hocevar scoring a second six weeks later at Texas.
“I think everything went right,” McDowell added. “The cloud did come, the wind did hit just right, but everyone back at the Hendrick engine shop, thank you guys so much. I know they’ve been working really hard. It’s no secret, the Fords have been kicking our butts at these places, and we feel like we had some areas we needed to gain, felt like we gained them, and to be sitting here with a pole is awesome.”
The 40-year-old driver will be starting alongside NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs driver Chase Briscoe, who just narrowly missed out on his eighth pole of the season, and the 10th of his career at NASCAR’s top-level.
Kyle Busch, fresh off the announcement of a new crew chief for next season, will start third in the No. 8 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. Talladega is a racetrack that Busch has been to Victory Lane at for RCR, so Sunday’s 500-miler could possibly be a much-needed repeat of the team’s 2022 glory.
Spring Talladega race-winner Austin Cindric will start fourth for Team Penske, with Ryan Preece rounding out the top five. Josh Berry will roll from sixth, with playoff-eligible drivers Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney just behind in seventh and eighth.
NASCAR Cup Series rookie Riley Herbst secured his best starting spot of the season, with a ninth-place run in the No. 35 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE, with his 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace sitting tenth.
Five of the eight drivers still in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs failed to advance to the second round of qualifying on Saturday — William Byron (13th), Joey Logano (16th), Denny Hamlin (17th), Kyle Larson (19th), and Chase Elliott, the worst of the eight drivers in 25th.
The YellaWood 500 will take place on Sunday, October 19 at 2:00 PM ET on NBC, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
