Aric Almirola snags Atlanta pole for Sunday’s Cup race

The pole was Almirola’s first of the season and his second at the 1.54-mile track.

When Almirola won his first Atlanta pole in 2019, he was driving a Gen 6 car with an open-motor configuration on a degraded asphalt surface. Saturday’s pole-winning run came on a repaved track with NASCAR’s Next Gen car using a superspeedway competition package.

Nevertheless, Almirola said the lap was equally nerve-wracking, as opposed to the superspeedways at Daytona and Talladega.

“Here, with the track starting to degrade some over the winter, and now we’re in the hot summer months of July in Atlanta, the car’s a handful to try to run wide-open… A lot more nerve-wracking, much like it was with the Gen 6 car when you’re absolutely flying around here, slipping and sliding on that old surface.

“It was an exciting lap-we’ve been working really hard to bring more speed to the race track, and it’s great to get a pole.”

Chase Briscoe, Almirola’s teammate at Stewart-Haas Racing, will start third after a lap at 177.147 mph, followed by Joey Logano (176.876 mph).

Harrison Burton qualified a career-best fifth and will start on the inside of the third row next to Kevin Harvick. Toyota driver Ty Gibbs interrupted the Ford monopoly and will start seventh next to Kyle Larson, the only Chevrolet driver to make the final round.

Reigning series champion Logano won the March race at Atlanta for his only victory so far this season.