Starting grid set by qualifying results

Unless you’re part of some weird wagering pool for qualifying, please pay little to no attention to what you see below.

Read it, of course, but lordy, don’t you dare use it as any sort of barometer for what will happen Sunday in the Jack Link’s 500 at big and bad Talladega Superspeedway. And I know what you’re thinking.

“Well, if you’re so smart, why don’t you throw some of your fancy statistics at us.”

Don’t mind if I do. ‘Scuse me while I whip these out …

After eliminating pole qualifying in 2020 and ’21, NASCAR resumed the traditional speed runs in 2022, which is also when the Next Gen car cranked to life. So we have three years and six Talladega races as a sample size, and Junior, what a sample we have.

Average starting position for the six Talladega winners since 2022: 18.6. The best starting spot was 10th and the worst was 32nd (Ricky Stenhouse last October).

Want more? Sure you do.

Average finishing position for the six pole winners since 2022: 23.5. No pole winner has finished better than 17th, and the last two finished 37th and 31st. Yes, both were Michael McDowell.

In spite of all this, they went ahead with qualifying Saturday morning.

Ten fastest speeds during Talladega qualifying

These 10 drivers advanced from first-round qualifying, which included all cars, to a second-round of qualifying to determine the first five rows.

Zane Smith: 182.174

Kyle Busch: 181.718

Joey Logano: 181.708

Ryan Preece: 181.708

Austin Dillon: 181.584

Chris Buescher: 181.498

Austin Cindric: 181.432

Josh Berry: 191.381

Ryan Blaney: 181.250

Ty Gibbs: 180.846

NASCAR lineup for Talladega

Full lineup for Sunday’s race, with lap times from Saturday’s qualifying.

1. Zane Smith, No. 38 52.565
2. Kyle Busch, No. 8, 52.697
3. Joey Logano, No. 22, 52.7
4. Ryan Preece, No. 60, 52.7
5. Austin Dillon, No. 3, 52.736
6. Chris Buescher, No. 17, 52.761
7. Austin Cindric, No. 2, 52.78
8. Josh Berry, No. 21, 52.795
9. Ryan Blaney, No. 12, 52.833
10. Ty Gibbs, No. 54, 52.951
11. Christopher Bell, No. 20, 52.927
12. Cole Custer, No. 41, 52.941
13. Denny Hamlin, No. 11, 52.983
14. Michael McDowell, No. 71, 52.991
15. Todd Gilliland, No. 34, 52.995
16. William Byron, No. 24, 53.028
17. Chase Briscoe, No. 19, 53.061
18. Alex Bowman, No. 48, 53.083
19. AJ Allmendinger, No. 16, 53.084
20. Bubba Wallace, No. 23, 53.122
21. Ty Dillon, No. 10, 53.123
22. Brad Keselowski, No. 6, 53.139
23. Riley Herbst, No. 35, 53.157
24. Daniel Suarez, No. 99, 53.191
25. Kyle Larson, No. 5, 53.211
26. Tyler Reddick, No. 45, 53.222
27. Noah Gragson, No. 4, 53.264
28. Carson Hocevar, No. 77, 53.298
29. John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42, 53.337
30. Chase Elliott, No. 9, 53.345
31. Anthony Alfredo, No. 62, 53.381
32. Ross Chastain, no. 1, 53.399
33. Cody Ware, No. 51, 53.417
34. Erik Jones, No. 43, 53.503
35. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47, 53.534
36. Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88, 53.538
37. Justin Haley, No. 7, 53.563
38. BJ McLeod, No. 78, 54.103
39. JJ Yeley, No. 44, 55.671

NASCAR at Talladega schedule, TV channel

SATURDAY

12:30 p.m.: ARCA Series, General Tire 200 (FS1).

4 p.m.: Xfinity Series, Ag-Pro 300 (CW).

SUNDAY

3 p.m.: Cup Series, Jack Link’s 500 (Fox).