Michael McDowell earns Geico 500 pole position at Talladega Superspeedway
For the second time this season and second time in his career, Michael McDowell has won a pole award in the NASCAR Cup Series. This time, it comes at Talladega Superspeedway for the Geico 500.
The top three cars in qualifying were Fords. Two of those three were Front Row Motorsports Fords. Michael McDowell paced the field with a 52.609-second lap. He beat out Austin Cindric who posted a time of 52.691.
Todd Gilliland was third overall in the final qualifying round. Is this finally the big break that these Ford teams and drivers were looking for?
The Front Row Renaissance is in full effect. Both Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland have had speed that just wasn’t there before. Moving into a new alliance with Team Penske and being upgraded to a Tier 1 organization with Ford has been revolutionary for these teams.
McDowell has now started on the front row at all three drafting tracks this season. Daytona, Atlanta, and now Talladega. Like Thanos collecting Infinity Stones, McDowell keeps picking up these front row starts at the superspeedways.
Other notes from the qualifying session: Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon give RCR more good news, qualifying P4 and P5. Martin Truex Jr. and Christopher Bell were the only Toyotas in the top-10. Chase Elliott was the fastest Hendrick driver. Lastly, Kyle Larson did not make a qualifying lap due to an unapproved adjustment to his roof rails.
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Michael McDowell continues to impress
It isn’t often that Michael McDowell and his Front Row Motorsports team are able to pull off two top-10 finishes so quickly. They had two in just four races to start the season. Since Phoenix, things have fallen off, though.
The good news is that there has been speed. That pure, unadulterated speed that these superspeedways bring out of the cars. After a hugely successful season in 2023, McDowell is going to try to get another top-10, or better yet, a win.
His teammate Todd Gilliland is a popular underdog pick for Talladega. Gilliland led dozens of laps between Daytona and Atlanta. Starting P3 on Sunday, Gilliland is going to try and earn his first top-10 of the season.
In his last three trips to Talladega, Gilliland has finishes of P7, P10, and P12. Expect him to be there in the mix, and maybe even out in front of the field and leading laps. This is not the same FRM team that we saw last season or the year before.