It was Ford up front in Atlanta in the spring, and nothing’s changed. Well, to be fair, Ford had all of the top eight positions on the grid back in March, but they’ll just have the top eight for the Quaker State 400 on Sunday (7 p.m. ET on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola leads that group after earning his fifth career pole Saturday.
He said that qualifying was much more difficult in the summer than it was earlier in the season in a spring race.
“Here, with the track starting to degrade some over the winter, and now we’re in the hot summer months of July in Atlanta, the car’s a handful to try to run wide-open,” he said. “A lot more nerve-wracking, much like it was with the Gen 6 car when you’re absolutely flying around here, slipping and sliding on that old surface.”
“It was an exciting lap—we’ve been working really hard to bring more speed to the race track, and it’s great to get a pole.”
Almirola’s had a difficult season, currently sitting 27th in points, as his Stewart-Haas Racing team as a whole has struggled. Besides Kevin Harvick, all of their cars sit 25th or worse in points.
That will certainly impact his approach to the race as the Playoffs loom.
“It’s crunch time, absolutely,” he said. “It’s go time. You’ve got to take advantage of every opportunity and you’ve got to maximize every opportunity. You’ve got to put yourself in position. You’ve got to make bold moves in the race car. You’ve got to make bold moves pit strategy-wise. You’ve got to do whatever it takes because you’re not going to get a lot of opportunities.”
“For the guys like myself that are further down in points, we’ve got rare opportunities to win races because we just haven’t shown up with the consistent speed we need to put ourselves in position to win,” he added.
But three Stewart-Haas cars made the second round of qualifying in Atlanta, meaning they earned a top-ten starting position. Chase Briscoe will start third and Kevin Harvick will roll off sixth.
Penske had a strong showing as well, with Ryan Blaney posting the second-fastest time, Joey Logano qualifying fourth, and Austin Cindric starting tenth.
Harrison Burton, driving for the Penske-affiliated team Wood Brothers’ Racing, qualified fifth. It’s a career best start for the young driver.
Ty Gibbs in a Toyota and Kyle Larson in a Chevy were the only two drivers not driving a Ford to make the second round. They’ll start seventh and eighth respectively.
Starting Lineup (PDF)
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