BRISTOL, Tenn. — Alex Bowman continued his strong start to the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway, earning the pole for Saturday’s 500-lap Bass Pro Shops Night Race.
The final driver to qualify, Bowman turned a lap of 15.142 seconds (126.720 mph), fast enough for his fifth pole in 318 career races. It’s his first of the 2024 season and it’ll mark his 11th top-10 starting spot of the campaign. Bowman enters Saturday’s elimination race 41 points above the cutline.
“I thought we struggled a little bit in practice, more than I was expecting. And then really in qualifying, I just had a lot of grip,” Bowman said. “Obviously after the first round, I felt pretty good about it. I’m thankful to start up front and qualify well. Obviously qualifying hasn’t been our strongest suit over the years, so with it being a cutoff race and everything, starting up front is definitely important.
“I think it’s obviously important for us to lock in through the stages, if we can, just with how crazy this place can get and how easy it is to get caught up in somebody else’s mess. Sometimes not getting the finish you want is frustrating, like last weekend was for us. But guaranteeing yourself those points through the stages is important to do when you can.”
His Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Kyle Larson, recorded the best time in Group A and will start second. William Byron, another HMS driver, starts third with Martin Truex Jr. and Chase Briscoe rounding out the top five.
“It’s a good start to our weekend for sure with our Rush Truck Centers Ford,” Briscoe said. “I felt a lot better about my car on the bottom and, honestly, I thought we would qualify a touch better than that as crazy as that seems. Overall, that’s what we needed to do. We had to put ourselves in contention to start up front and have the ability to try and score some stage points.”
Christopher Bell completes the third row with a sixth-place starting spot.
Coming off three top 10s at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l, Spire Motorsports put a pair of drivers inside the top 10 Friday. Rookie Carson Hocevar starts seventh while Corey LaJoie, who will switch to Rick Ware Racing next week, starts ninth. Denny Hamlin is sandwiched in between starting eighth while Chase Elliott finishes the top 10.
Five playoff drivers will start outside the top 20. Ryan Blaney starts 22nd. Brad Keselowski – who’s 12 points below the cutline — starts 23rd while Austin Cindric starts 27th.
Harrison Burton and Daniel Suárez occupy two of the bottom four starting spots. Burton, sitting 20 points below the cutline, rolls off 34th while Suárez starts 35th.
Saturday’s race is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network. Four drivers will be eliminated.