Michael McDowell takes pole for Atlanta
HAMPTON, Ga. — For the fifth time this season, Michael McDowell will lead the field to the green flag in a NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday in the Quaker State 400.
McDowell scored the pole Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway with a lap time of30.926 seconds (179.267 mph average). Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney will start second with his lap time of 30.999 seconds (178.884 mph).
In his first 16 years in the Cup Series, or first 466 starts, McDowell had never won a pole. Now, he is tied with Kyle Larson for the most on the season.
“I don’t think you ever go into it thinking ‘we’ve got this,’ I knew we’d have a shot at it,” McDowell said of his confidence on winning the pole to The Racing Experts. “I felt like it was going to take everything being done perfect to have a shot at it.”
McDowell, who has two Top-5 finishes and six Top-10 finishes on the season, remains winless in 2024.
For Sunday, McDowell said the goal is to be able to control the race as much as possible.
“It’s tough when you’re the pole sitter, you’re trying to control the race, trying to control the runs, but you’re also the sitting duck,” McDowell said.
“Ideally, you want to keep control of the race as long as you can, but we all know that’s hard for the polesitter.”
Blaney, Front Row Motorsports teammate Todd Gilliland, Josh Berry, and Austin Cindric rounded out the Top-5 starters.
Starting positions of playoff drivers
2nd – Ryan Blaney
5th – Austin Cindric
6th – Kyle Larson
7th – Joey Logano
9th – William Byron
10th – Chase Elliott
11th – Alex Bowman
12th – Harrison Burton
16th – Chase Elliott
19th – Brad Keselowski
20th – Ty Gibbs
22nd – Martin Truex Jr.
23rd – Tyler Reddick
26th – Christopher Bell
30th – Daniel Suarez
38th – Denny Hamlin
MORE: NASCAR at Atlanta 2024 Playoffs: Odds, TV times and more info
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Dominic Aragon View All
Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.
From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book "All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story" with racer Geoff Bodine.
Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.
You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.