TALLADEGA, Ala. — Rookie Chase Elliott won the pole for Sunday's GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Hendrick Motorsports’ successor to four-time series champion Jeff Gordon in the No. 24 Chevrolet covered the 2.66-mile, high-banked restrictor-plate track with a lap of 192.661 in the second and final qualifying round Saturday.
Austin Dillon of Richard Childress Racing was second (192.424), followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. (192.293), Matt Kenseth (192.181) and Jimmie Johnson (192.116).
Elliott also won the pole for the season-opening Daytona 500.
"Like I said in Daytona, this is all team guys," Elliott said. "This had nothing to do with me and they have brought a fast car back. This is our same car that we ran at Daytona. Unfortunately I didn’t bring it home in one piece (at Daytona), they had to fix it, but they did a great job doing that and hopefully we can just try to be smart, try to cut down on some of the dumb mistakes I made in February and try to give ourselves a shot and be there at the end.”
The Talladega pole came on the 30th anniversary of his father Bill, a former series champion and Hall of Fame inductee, setting the NASCAR record for fastest qualifying speed at any track when he ran 212.809 mph in winning the pole in the pre-restrictor-plate-era at Talladega.
Hendrick Motorsports drivers — Elliott, Earnhardt Jr., and Johnson — claimed three of the top five qualifying spots. The fourth HMS driver, Kasey Kahne, will start 11th.
Josh Wise was the only driver who failed to qualify for the race.
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PHOTOS: Behind the wheel with Chase Elliott
GEICO 500 Lineup
Saturday's qualifying results from the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway (car number in parentheses):
1. (24) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 192.661.
2. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 192.424.
3. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 192.293.
4. (20) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 192.181.
5. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 192.116.
6. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 192.089.
7. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 192.008.
8. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 191.954.
9. (19) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 191.819.
10. (27) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 191.812.
11. (5) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 191.789.
12. (78) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 191.581.
13. (6) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 191.566.
14. (14) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 191.509.
15. (31) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 191.298.
16. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 191.191.
17. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 191.164.
18. (41) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 191.039.
19. (21) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 190.921.
20. (13) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 190.772.
21. (44) Brian Scott, Ford, 190.73.
22. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 190.382.
23. (43) Aric Almirola, Ford, 190.26.
24. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 190.166.
25. (7) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 190.109.
26. (32) Bobby Labonte, Ford, 189.966.
27. (34) Chris Buescher, Ford, 189.925.
28. (47) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 189.921.
29. (4) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 189.8.
30. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 189.729.
31. (95) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 189.519.
32. (38) Landon Cassill, Ford, 189.47.
33. (55) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 189.313.
34. (15) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 189.025.
35. (83) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 189.01.
36. (98) Cole Whitt, Toyota, 188.961.
37. (10) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 188.954.
38. (46) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 188.478.
39. (35) David Gilliland, Ford, 188.467.
40. (23) David Ragan, Toyota, 187.636.
Failed to Qualify
41. (30) Josh Wise, Chevrolet, 185.679.
