NASCAR Cup Series at Talladega starting lineup: Christoper Bell wins second pole of 2022

Christopher Bell won the pole for the GEICO 500 at Talladega on Saturday morning, topping a time-trial session that saw two Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas sweep the front row and break a recent trend of Chevrolet dominance in superspeedway qualifying.

Bell posted a lap of 52.927 seconds (180.928 MPH) in the second round of qualifying, beating Martin Truex Jr. for the top spot and earning both his second pole of the season and career. Bell’s first pole of the year came at Las Vegas in March.

Bell’s Toyota is the first non-Chevrolet to win a pole at a superspeedway since Kurt Busch won the pole at Talladega in the fall of 2018 driving a Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Daniel Hemric was the fastest Chevrolet in third, while Joey Logano led the Ford qualifiers in 13th.

Bell is the second repeat pole-sitter of 2022, and his two poles now rank second on the season to Ryan Blaney’s three.

Three drivers encountered issues in pre-qualifying tech inspection: Truex and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s teams failed inspection twice, resulting in them losing pit selection and having one crew member ejected from the weekend. Landon Cassill’s team failed inspection three times, leading to his team being disallowed from making a qualifying attempt. Cassill will start last on Sunday and will have to serve a drive-through penalty following the green flag.

GEICO 500 starting lineup

1. #20 – Christopher Bell
2. #19 – Martin Truex Jr.
3. #16 – Daniel Hemric
4. #99 – Daniel Suarez
5. #5 – Kyle Larson
6. #45 – Kurt Busch
7. #11 – Denny Hamlin
8. #24 – William Byron
9. #23 – Bubba Wallace
10. #8 – Tyler Reddick
11. #31 – Justin Haley
12. #18 – Kyle Busch
13. #22 – Joey Logano
14. #3 – Austin Dillon
15. #6 – Brad Keselowski
16. #43 – Erik Jones
17. #14 – Chase Briscoe
18. #2 – Austin Cindric (R)
19. #1 – Ross Chastain
20. #42 – Ty Dillon
21. #34 – Michael McDowell
22. #12 – Ryan Blaney
23. #10 – Aric Almirola
24. #4 – Kevin Harvick
25. #21 – Harrison Burton (R)
26. #47 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
27. #48 – Alex Bowman
28. #9 – Chase Elliott
29. #41 – Cole Custer
30. #17 – Chris Buescher
31. #62 – Noah Gragson
32. #38 – Todd Gilliland (R)
33. #7 – Corey LaJoie
34. #51 – Cody Ware
35. #44 – Greg Biffle
36. #15 – David Ragan
37. #78 – B.J. McLeod
38. #55 – J.J. Yeley
39. #77 – Landon Cassill