NASCAR playoffs at Talladega starting lineup: Michael McDowell wins his fifth-straight superspeedway pole

LINCOLN, Ala. -- Michael McDowell won the pole for the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in qualifying on Saturday afternoon, posting a lap of 52.310 (183.063 MPH) in the final round to win his fifth-straight pole on a superspeedway and his sixth overall this season. McDowell swept the pole positions in both Talladega races for 2024, did the same at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and also won the pole at Daytona International Speedway in August.

In doing so, McDowell became the first NASCAR Cup Series driver since the mid-1980s to win five-straight poles for superspeedway races. The last to do so was Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, who won six straight between his victory in the 1985 Daytona 500 and the Talladega spring race in 1986.

McDowell will be flanked by Austin Cindric on the outside pole, who will lead all playoff contenders in the Round of 12 to the green flag on Sunday. The three other playoff drivers to qualify inside the top 10 included defending fall Talladega winner Ryan Blaney in fifth, Joey Logano in sixth, and Denny Hamlin -- who made headlines this week when his 23XI Racing team and the Front Row Motorsports team McDowell drives for filed a joint antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR -- in eighth.

The rest of the playoff contenders include Chase Elliott in 11th, Kyle Larson in 12th, Tyler Reddick in 14th, William Byron in 16th, Christopher Bell in 21st, Alex Bowman in 23rd, Daniel Suarez in 31st and Chase Briscoe in 36th.

YellaWood 500 starting lineup

1. #34 - Michael McDowell
2. #2 - Austin Cindric
3. #38 - Todd Gilliland
4. #8 - Kyle Busch
5. #12 - Ryan Blaney
6. #22 - Joey Logano
7. #3 - Austin Dillon
8. #11 - Denny Hamlin
9. #21 - Harrison Burton
10. #31 - Daniel Hemric
11. #9 - Chase Elliott
12. #5 - Kyle Larson
13. #6 - Brad Keselowski
14. #45 - Tyler Reddick
15. #54 - Ty Gibbs
16. #24 - William Byron
17. #16 - Shane van GIsbergen
18. #41 - Ryan Preece
19. #4 - Josh Berry (R)
20. #17 - Chris Buescher
21. #20 - Christopher Bell
22. #10 - Noah Gragson
23. #48 - Alex Bowman
24. #19 - Martin Truex Jr.
25. #13 - A.J. Allmendinger
26. #23 - Bubba Wallace
27. #1 - Ross Chastain
28. #51 - Corey LaJoie
29. #42 - John Hunter Nemechek
30. #43 - Erik Jones
31. #99 - Daniel Suarez
32. #47 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
33. #62 - Anthony Alfredo
34. #15 - Cody Ware
35. #7 - Justin Haley
36. #14 - Chase Briscoe
37. #77 - Carson Hocevar (R)
38. #78 - B.J. McLeod
39. #71 - Zane Smith (R)
40. #44 - J.J. Yeley