Potential NASCAR playoff spoilers share Ford front row at Gateway

by Jonathan Fjeld and Dominic Aragon

Michael McDowell and Austin Cindric will lead the field to the green flag Sunday as they look to spoil the playoff picture in the Enjoy Illinois 300.

McDowell posted a 32.468-second lap time, averaging 138.598 MPH Saturday in the final round of qualifying at World Wide Technology Raceway to earn his third pole of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.

In McDowell’s 465 starts before 2024, he had never earned a pole in his career.

Cindric earned his second front row start of the year. He and McDowell are having deja vu of Talladega in April when they shared the front row in the same order there too.

What they also share is the need for a win.

Austin Cindric sits 96 points below the cutline while Michael McDowell sits 111 points below it. They showed good race pace in practice as they posted the sixth and ninth fastest lap times Saturday.

Cindric even showed potential winning speed. On the 10-lap average, he was second-fastest, averaging 136.161 MPH.

A win from him or McDowell could upset the playoff cutline:

Alex Bowman (+74 points), Ross Chastain (+58) Ryan Blaney (+42), Bubba Wallace (+21), Kyle Busch (+12), Chris Buescher (+11), Chase Briscoe (-11) and Joey Logano (-30).

Joey Logano isn’t too upset, though. While he’ll start 12th, Logano was fastest in practice by at least a tenth of a second. On the 10-lap average, he had a leading 136.274 MPH average, well better than McDowell who averaged 135.554 MPH.

Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, and Tyler Reddick rounded out the Top-5 qualifiers.

Last year’s Gateway winner, Kyle Busch, will start 10th.