Michael McDowell beat teammate Todd Gilliland to pole position with a lap of 49.136s around the 2.5-mile superspeedway. Both drivers are facing a must-win situation and led a legion of Fords at the front of the field, sweeping the first three rows.
For McDowell, this is his fourth pole of the season and his third on a drafting track. He had zero poles in the previous 16 years of his Cup career, but is now making the most of FRM’s Tier 1 status within the Ford group and a technical alliance with Team Penske.
“I’m just so proud of everybody at Front Row Motorsports,” said McDowell. “To have both cars on the front row is just amazing. It’s just a testament to how hard everyone is working. We know we have two shots left here, but this is a big weekend for us. To have both cars up front is really important. Hopefully, we can stay up front, control the race, and give ourselves a fighting chance to get into these playoffs.”
Michael McDowell, Front Row Motorsports, Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang
Photo by: Matthew T. Thacker / NKP / Motorsport Images
Gilliland was 0.098s shy of earning his first-career pole. Previously, he best start was third at Talladega. “I wanted it extremely bad,” he told NBC. “We definitely have a car that’s fast enough to go win this race tomorrow.”
Penske’s Joey Logano will start third, followed by the Stewart-Haas trio of Ryan Preece, Josh Berry and Chase Briscoe. William Byron was the top-qualifying Chevrolet driver in seventh, breaking up the Blue Oval party. Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson, and Chase Elliott filled out the remainder of the top-ten.
Looking at the drivers in the midst of the playoff points battle, Chris Buescher was the top qualifier in 13th.
