A.J. Allmendinger stuns with first pole position in 10+ years

Excitement was building around the 16 playoff drivers at Bristol Motor Speedway, but all eyes should have been on A.J. Allmendinger and the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet.

After lapping the half-mile in 15.117 seconds, no one could touch him in a shocking upset that surprised even the veteran driver. This is Allmendinger’s fifth career pole, but his first in over a decade. You have to go even further back for his most recent pole on an oval, which came at Kansas Speedway in April of 2012.

“I don’t know, I closed my eyes at a couple points,” smiled Allmendinger when asked how he secured P1. “I’m not really sure. This Chevy was pretty good in practice, and this place is so tough to qualify. The first lap, she stuck and I looked down at the dash like okay, that’s a pretty good lap. I know it’s just qualifying. We got 500 laps around this place but to get a pole at Bristol is pretty awesome.

Continued Allmendinger: “Every old dog has his day. Hopefully we can do that for 500 laps, but I’m super proud of all the men and women at Kaulig Racing. We’ve been building fast cars all year, and this Cup Series is tough — especially when you’re a small team trying to grow. Little victories like this — even though it’s qualifying — means a lot to us.”

Kaulig Racing team president Chris Rice and driver AJ Allmendinger after Bristol pole

Photo by: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Allmendinger has led just four laps all year, but he will likely smash that in a big way on Saturday night, as track position is everything at Bristol.

The closest driver to Allmeninger was Ryan Blaney, who missed the pole by 0.003s and will join him on the front row.

Blaney’s Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric, who entered this race on the playoff hot seat with 11 points between himself and the elimination zone, qualified third in a huge win for that team.

Ty Gibbs and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five with the rest of the top ten as follows: Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell, Josh Berry.

Looking beyond the top ten, other playoff drivers scattered throughout the field include Ross Chastain in 13th, Tyler Reddick 14th, Alex Bowman 15th, Chase Elliott 16th, Joey Logano 22nd, Austin 23rd, Shane van Gisbergen 28th, and Chase Briscoe back in 31st.