Chase Briscoe takes Talladega pole, his first of 2026
Austin Hill will share the front row for the YellaWood 500, while points leader Kyle Larson qualified 10th.
Chase Briscoe qualified fastest for the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, recording 51.466 seconds at 186.065 miles per hour. The defending race winner earned his first pole of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season on the 2.66-mile Alabama track.
Briscoe now has 10 Cup career poles, eight of them with Joe Gibbs Racing. Austin Hill took the other front-row position, ahead of third-place qualifier Connor Zilisch. Shane van Gisbergen placed fourth and Chris Buescher fifth.
Christopher Bell qualified sixth, followed by Alex Bowman in seventh and Ty Gibbs in eighth. Denny Hamlin was ninth, with defending champion and standings leader Kyle Larson completing the top 10.
Further down the field, Joey Logano qualified 16th, Chase Elliott 18th and spring Talladega winner Carson Hocevar 26th. Phoenix winner Tyler Reddick took 33rd. Gray Gaulding will start 40th and last after posting 52.875 seconds at 181.106 miles per hour.
With three races remaining in the season, Larson holds a five-point advantage over Bell. The first seven drivers in the standings are within 56 points of one another.
