NASCAR at Atlanta: Michael McDowell wins first career pole for Sunday’s Cup Series race

Michael McDowell had the fastest car in qualifying, and Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway will be his first starting on the pole.

The NASCAR Cup Series veteran, a recent Daytona 500 winner, ran the lap in 30.999 seconds after being the last competitor to get on the track during the final round of Saturday’s qualifying session. McDowell will start on the front row alongside Joey Logano for the second straight week.

“Yes, it is for sure my first career pole in the Cup Series, and I’m proud of that, but at the same time, it’s more of a testament to my team,” said McDowell, who will make his 467th start as a Cup driver Sunday. “This qualifying session, you have to execute everything perfectly. But having a fast race car is what it’s all about, and I’m really proud of my guys.”

It’s the first pole for Front Row Motorsports in nearly a decade — since David Gilliland led the field to green at Daytona in July 2014.

Front Row, a Ford team, has a technical alliance with Team Penske and uses the 2024 Ford Mustang Dark Horse. The new race cars looked fast at qualifying.

After McDowell and Logano, Front Row’s Todd Gilliland will start fourth, Penske’s Ryan Blaney sixth, RFK’s Chris Buescher seventh, Penske’s Austin Cindric eighth and Stewart-Haas’ Chase Briscoe ninth.

“I qualified fifth, Kyle Busch qualified third, so there’s two Chevys in the top five,” Kyle Larson said. “That’s an improvement on where we were last year. I was the only Chevy in the final round last year. It pays absolutely nothing to qualify on the pole in any of these races.”

NASCAR veteran Kyle Busch celebrates in victory lane after winning the Craftsman Truck Series’ Fr8 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday.
NASCAR veteran Kyle Busch celebrates in victory lane after winning the Craftsman Truck Series’ Fr8 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday.

Kyle Busch, two-time Cup winner at Atlanta, wins Truck Series race

Kyle Busch remembers hearing a roar during qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the early 2000s.

He called the 1.54-mile speedway one of the fastest tracks on the NASCAR Cup Series’ circuit and felt the speed his first time there. The two-time champion has a pair of Cup wins at Atlanta in 2008 and 2013 — and added another, winning Saturday’s Truck Series race.

“Just the roar of the engine and the speed that you’re carrying,” Busch said. “This place is pretty intimidating. Great, fun place to race — I’ll still say I enjoy the old track more. But we got what we got here now, and hopefully the fans enjoy a good show.”

The surface of Atlanta’s track was repaved and narrowed in 2021, and Busch was the first driver to blast the proposed redesign after winning an Xfinity Series race on the old track.

“It’s changed a little bit, and it’s brought a lot of speedway racing to it,” Tanner Gray, who finished fourth, told The Charlotte Observer on pit road. “You have to think more about the moves that you make. Especially with the crazy tailwinds today, you really had to think about your runs, your moves and where you disperse your energy.”

Chris Buescher (17) was among 23 drivers collected in ‘The Big One’ during the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
Chris Buescher (17) was among 23 drivers collected in ‘The Big One’ during the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

Looking back at The Big One: ‘Least amount of fun I’ve had’

Chris Buescher said he’s never disliked this race more.

Twenty-three cars were collected in a late wreck that led to William Byron’s Daytona 500 win last week. The sport continues evolving, such that drivers primarily strive to save more fuel as opposed to racing as fast as they can at all times.

Buescher criticized that development. He felt his pace was roughly five seconds off, all so that in the end, he could be taken out in The Big One as well.

“That was the least amount of fun I’ve had in a Daytona 500 for a really, really long time, and I’ve hit head-on there in Turn 1,” Buescher said. “That being said, we had really fast Ford Mustangs, really proud of RFK for that. Not much chance to show it when 70, 80 percent of the race is spent fuel-saving.”

NASCAR veteran Kyle Busch (7) celebrates after winning the Fr8 208 on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
NASCAR veteran Kyle Busch (7) celebrates after winning the Fr8 208 on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Starting lineup for the Ambetter Health 400

Position

Driver

Car Number

1

Michael McDowell

34

2

Joey Logano

22

3

Kyle Busch

8

4

Todd Gilliland

38

5

Kyle Larson

5

6

Ryan Blaney

12

7

Chris Buescher

17

8

Austin Cindric

2

9

Chase Briscoe

14

10

Austin Dillon

3

11

William Byron

24

12

Martin Truex Jr.

19

13

Denny Hamlin

11

14

Josh Berry

4

15

Noah Gragson

10

16

Harrison Burton

21

17

Alex Bowman

48

18

Bubba Wallace

23

19

Tyler Reddick

45

20

Ryan Preece

41

21

Ross Chastain

1

22

Christopher Bell

20

23

Daniel Suarez

99

24

Brad Keselowski

6

25

Ty Gibbs

54

26

Daniel Hemric

31

27

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

47

28

Chase Elliott

9

29

Zane Smith

71

30

Josh Williams

16

31

Justin Haley

51

32

Corey LaJoie

7

33

Kaz Grala

15

34

John Hunter Nemechek

42

35

Carson Hocevar

77

36

BJ McLeod

78

37

Erik Jones

43