Elliott Leads Hendrick
Chase Elliott with the pole award Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway. (NASCAR photo)
NASCAR Cup Series

Elliott Leads Hendrick Qualifying Sweep At ‘Dega

October 12, 2019

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Much like Stewart-Haas Racing did last fall at Talladega Superspeedway, Hendrick Motorsports locked out the first two rows of the grid for Sunday’s 1000Bulbs.com 500.

Leading the charge was April Talladega winner Chase Elliott, who will start from the pole in an attempt to sweep the season at the Bill France-designed, 2.66-mile Alabama oval.

Elliott set a blistering time of 49.692 seconds (192.707 mph) with the No. 9 NAPA Night Vision Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 en route to his fourth pole of the season and the eighth of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career.

The Dawsonville, Ga., native will seek his second-straight Talladega victory – and a guaranteed spot into the Round of 8 in the Cup Series playoffs – during Sunday’s 188-lap, 500-mile event.

Chase Elliott in action Saturday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway. (Jacob Seelman photo)

“We had a really fast NAPA Night Vision Camaro there. It was faster than I was expecting it to be today, to be honest, which is nice,” Elliott noted. “Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and our team do such a good job at these places, and really Hendrick as a whole does, to get ready to go fast. Our body shop and our engine shop doing the job that they do allows us to come to these superspeedways and have fast race cars. I’m really proud of the effort.

“It was a tough week last week, obviously, so it’s just nice to come back and get a pole,” he added. “It’s a long race and anything can happen, but we get to take advantage of a good pit (stall) pick and we’ll go to work from there and see what happens.”

Alex Bowman, who has finished second and third in the last two Cup Series races, will roll off alongside Elliott in second after a time of 49.732 seconds (192.552 mph) with the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet.

Cup Series sophomore William Byron (49.808/192.258) and seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson (49.988/191.566) filled out the second row of the grid, with Aric Almirola’s Ford Mustang in fifth (49.992/191.551) ending qualifying as the fastest non-Hendrick car in the field.

Brad Keselowski, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Clint Bowyer, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano filled out the top 10.

Erik Jones, who qualified 11th with a lap of 50.179 seconds (190.837 mph), was the fastest Toyota driver in the field on Saturday afternoon.

Jones’ teammate Denny Hamlin did not post a timed lap due to an engine failure coming to the green. As a result, Hamlin’s FedEx Toyota Camry will start last in the 40-car field on Sunday.

The complete starting lineup can be found below.

QUALIFYING RESULTS: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series; Talladega Superspeedway; Oct. 12, 2019

  1. #9 – Chase Elliott, 49.692 seconds (192.707 mph)
  2. #88 – Alex Bowman, 49.732 seconds (192.552 mph)
  3. #24 – William Byron, 49.808 seconds (192.258 mph)
  4. #48 – Jimmie Johnson, 49.998 seconds (191.566 mph)
  5. #10 – Aric Almirola, 49.992 seconds (191.551 mph)
  6. #2 – Brad Keselowski, 50.007 seconds (191.493 mph)
  7. #17 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 50.053 seconds (191.317 mph)
  8. #14 – Clint Bowyer, 50.055 seconds (191.310 mph)
  9. #12 – Ryan Blaney, 50.078 seconds (191.222 mph)
  10. #22 – Joey Logano, 50.130 seconds (191.023 mph)
  11. #20 – Erik Jones, 50.179 seconds (190.837 mph)
  12. #42 – Kyle Larson, 50.195 seconds (190.776 mph)
  13. #6 – Ryan Newman, 50.223 seconds (190.670 mph)
  14. #21 – Paul Menard, 50.264 seconds (190.514 mph)
  15. #4 – Kevin Harvick, 50.315 seconds (190.321 mph)
  16. #36 – Matt Tifft, 50.316 seconds (190.317 mph)
  17. #38 – David Ragan, 50.341 seconds (190.223 mph)
  18. #19 – Martin Truex Jr., 50.452 seconds (189.804 mph)
  19. #41 – Daniel Suarez, 50.481 seconds (189.695 mph)
  20. #3 – Austin Dillon, 50.567 seconds (189.373 mph)
  21. #13 – Ty Dillon, 50.577 seconds (189.335 mph)
  22. #34 – Michael McDowell, 50.594 seconds (189.271 mph)
  23. #37 – Chris Buescher, 50.616 seconds (189.189 mph)
  24. #1 – Kurt Busch, 50.656 seconds (189.040 mph)
  25. #00 – Landon Cassill, 50.750 seconds (188.690 mph)
  26. #18 – Kyle Busch, 50.776 seconds (188.593 mph)
  27. #43 – Bubba Wallace, 50.863 seconds (188.270 mph)
  28. #62 – Brendan Gaughan, 50.873 seconds (188.233 mph)
  29. #8 – Daniel Hemric, 50.881 seconds (188.204 mph)
  30. #47 – Ryan Preece, 51.011 seconds (187.724 mph)
  31. #95 – Matt DiBenedetto, 51.176 seconds (187.119 mph)
  32. #96 – Parker Kligerman, 51.956 seconds (184.310 mph)
  33. #32 – Corey LaJoie, 52.002 seconds (184.147 mph)
  34. #15 – Ross Chastain, 52.324 seconds (183.014 mph)
  35. #77 – Blake Jones, 52.407 seconds (182.724 mph)
  36. #66 – Joey Gase, 53.101 seconds (180.336 mph)
  37. #51 – Austin Theriault, 53.227 seconds (179.909 mph)
  38. #27 – Reed Sorenson, 53.471 seconds (179.088 mph)
  39. #52 – Spencer Boyd, 54.404 seconds (176.016 mph)
  40. #11 – Denny Hamlin, NT (0.000 mph)