AJ Allmendinger lands Busch Light Pole at Bristol

AJ Allmendinger won the Busch Light Pole Award for this weekend’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. He topped qualifying in the Kaulig Racing No. 16 Chevrolet with a 126.930 mph lap to claim his fifth career pole in the NASCAR Cup Series.

When asked if it was still fun for him, he said, “I’ve been super proud of all the men and women at Kaulig Racing this year. It’s tough in the Cup Series. He continued, saying, “Sometimes the results don’t show the speed that you’re bringing to the racetrack. And at a racetrack, maybe that we ran 28th at last year, we run 15th this year, things like that.

“So, yeah, days like today are enjoyable and give me confidence because I feel like I can still do it. And at the end of the day, anybody that knows me knows I’m by far the hardest on myself and I’m always going to be like that. That’s never going to change. So, days like today are important to me, as well, because it proves that I can be here.”

Ryan Blaney (126.905 mph) will start beside Allmendinger on the front row.

“I’m proud of our lap and proud to be starting on the front row,” he said. “I wish I could have had it back and I’m sure a lot of guys say that.” He continued, “I just got tight in three and four. I feel like my first lap I got through one and two pretty good.

“Probably got a little greedy into three, a little too high of an arc,” he added. A little too much speed and then I tried to jump back to the gas quick and I got tight and I kind of had to burp it for a second. I probably lost a little bit there, but, overall, it was a good day.

“I think our race car is really good, too, over the long haul and I’m just looking forward to tomorrow night. Hopefully, we can run a good 500 laps and keep up with the racetrack and see what we can do.”

Austin Cindric (126.804 mph), Ty Gibbs (126.720 mph) and Kyle Larson (126.670) completed the top five. Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell and Josh Berry rounded out the top 10.

The Bass Pro Shops Night Race will air Saturday at 7:30 p.m. on USA and HBO Max with radio coverage provided by SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and PRN.

Starting Lineup:

1. (16) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 126.930 mph.
2. (12) Ryan Blaney (P) Ford, 126.905 mph.
3. (2) Austin Cindric (P) Ford, 126.804 mph.
4. (54) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 126.720 mph.
5. (5) Kyle Larson (P) Chevrolet, 126.670 mph.
6. (11) Denny Hamlin (P) Toyota, 126.312 mph.
7. (24) William Byron (P) Chevrolet, 126.187 mph.
8. (23) Bubba Wallace (P) Toyota, 126.170 mph.
9. (20) Christopher Bell (P) Toyota, 126.121 mph.
10. (21) Josh Berry (P) Ford, 126.121 mph.
11. (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 126.071 mph.
12. (77) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 126.054 mph.
13. (1) Ross Chastain (P) Chevrolet, 125.914 mph.
14. (45) Tyler Reddick (P) Toyota, 125.856 mph.
15. (48) Alex Bowman (P) Chevrolet, 125.757 mph.
16. (9) Chase Elliott (P) Chevrolet, 125.650 mph.
17. (7) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 125.642 mph.
18. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 125.633 mph.
19. (42) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 125.633 mph.
20. (60) Ryan Preece, Ford, 125.568 mph.
21. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford, 125.494 mph.
22. (22) Joey Logano (P) Ford, 125.428 mph.
23. (3) Austin Dillon (P) Chevrolet, 125.150 mph.
24. (38) Zane Smith, Ford, 125.052 mph.
25. (71) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 124.914 mph.
26. (41) Cole Custer, Ford, 124.800 mph.
27. (43) Erik Jones, Toyota, 124.695 mph.
28. (88) Shane Van Gisbergen (P) Chevrolet, 124.630 mph.
29. (35) Riley Herbst, Toyota, 124.622 mph.
30. (4) Noah Gragson, Ford, 124.581 mph.
31. (19) Chase Briscoe (P) Toyota, 124.347 mph.
32. (8) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 124.339 mph.
33. (33) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 123.953 mph.
34. (51) Cody Ware, Ford, 123.000 mph.
35. (99) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 122.905 mph.
36. (34) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 122.756 mph.
37. (10) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 122.552 mph.
38. (67) Corey Heim, Toyota, 122.427 mph.
39. (66) Chad Finchum, Ford, 119.522 mph.