McDowell, Cindric on Talladega front row
Michael McDowell and Austin Cindric will lead the NASCAR Cup Series field to the green at Talladega Superspeedway.
McDowell claimed the pole for the GEICO 500 Sunday with Cindric in tow. McDowell will start just ahead of teammate Todd Gilliland who qualified third.
Earlier this season, McDowell earned his first pole ahead of his 467th Cup Series start. That happened at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Nearly two months later, McDowell has two poles to his name.
Behind the fast Ford drivers are a pair of fast Richard Childress Racing drivers. Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon qualified fourth and fifth.
Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell round out the top-10 starters.
Shane van Gisbergen will start 17th. Anthony Alfredo will start 24th. Cody Ware will start 34th while BJ McLeod will start 37th.
Kyle Larson rounds out the field in 38th. NASCAR didn’t let them qualify because they made an unapproved adjustment to the roof rail while rolling the car out to the grid. Penalties are pending.
Full lineup and more: NASCAR at Talladega 2024: Odds, lineups, times, standings and more
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com