Alex Bowman wins Busch Light Pole for Bristol playoff race

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Alex Bowman continued his solid effort in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs on Friday, securing the pole position for Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET, USA, NBC Sports App, PRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

In the final round of times trials at the 0.533-mile high-banked concrete track, Bowman sped around the “World’s Fastest Half Mile” in 15.142 seconds (126.720 mph) — the fastest lap of the day — to earn his first Busch Light Pole Award of the season by 0.003 seconds over Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron (126.695 mph).

Because Bowman and Byron both qualified in Group B, Byron will start third, with fellow Hendrick driver Kyle Larson (fastest from Group A at 126.378 mph) on the front row beside Bowman.

RELATED: Starting lineup | At-track photos

After finishing fifth at Atlanta and 18th at Watkins Glen, Bowman enters the elimination race fourth in the playoff standings, 41 points above the current cut line for the Round of 12. After Saturday’s race, the bottom four of the 16 playoff drivers will be eliminated from title eligibility.

“In qualifying, I had a lot of grip,” said Bowman, who won his first pole at Bristol and the fifth of his career. “I was a little bit too tight. It was one of those situations where you run a lap, and it’s either going to be really good or really slow. When you’re tight, you slow down so you can turn.

“Obviously, after the first round (where he tied Chase Briscoe for the fastest lap), I felt really good about it. Thankful to start up front and qualify well. Obviously, qualifying has been not our strongest suit over the years, so being the cutoff race and everything, starting up front is really important.”

With Chase Elliott claiming the 10th spot on the grid, all four Hendrick drivers advanced to the final round.

Martin Truex Jr., who starts the night race 15th in the standings and 14 points below the cut line, helped his chances with a qualifying effort that earned the fourth starting spot.

Likewise, teammate Denny Hamlin — six points on the wrong side of the bubble — hopes to make good use of his eighth-place qualifying effort. Hamlin has won the last two races at Thunder Valley.

Briscoe will start fifth, one position ahead of points leader Christopher Bell. Non-playoff drivers Carson Hocevar and Corey LaJoie, both of Spire Motorsports, will take the green flag from the seventh and ninth positions, respectively.

Other playoff drivers qualified as follows: Ty Gibbs 13th, Tyler Reddick 15th, Joey Logano (already locked into the Round of 12 with a victory at Atlanta) 20th, defending series champion Ryan Blaney 22nd, Austin Cindric 27th, Harrison Burton 34th and Daniel Suárez 35th.

Burton has the highest mountain to climb. He’s 16th in the Playoff standings, 20 points below the cutoff with elimination looming.

Gibbs fastest in practice

The No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing driver put down the quickest lap of 124.719 mph during Friday afternoon’s 45-minute practice session. Blaney (124.018 mph), Larson (123.987 mph), Byron (123.987 mph) and Elliott (123.833 mph) put down the five fastest circuits.

MORE: Practice results

Blaney was fastest in 10, 15 and 20 consecutive lap averages, while Larson bested the field in 25 and 30 consecutive lap averages.

Contributing: Staff report