Zane Smith earns first NASCAR Cup pole with monster…

Front Row Motorsports isn't unfamiliar with the front row at superspeedways, but it's not a place we've ever seen Zane Smith before today. Driving the No. 38 Ford Mustang, he was the fastest man at Talladega in both rounds of qualifying, earning his first career pole in his 55th career start. Crew chief Ryan Bergenty was ecstatic and actively celebrating on pit road as his car rocketed to the top of the time charts.

Smith's previous best start in the Cup Series is only seventh, coming at Atlanta earlier this year. His lap time at Talladega was simply stunning, beating the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet of Kyle Busch by over a tenth (0.132s).

"I wish I could take a lot of the credit for it, but truthfully, just a really fast FRM Ford," said Smith. So cool -- a pole-sitter in the Cup Series. That's awesome. Just a huge shoutout to all of these guys. They've been doing an awesome job this year. Long race tomorrow, but a great starting spot, so I'm super stoked for this."

Busch on the front row

Busch was the highest-qualifying Chevrolet, earning his first front row start since winning pole position at Dover one year ago. "That feels pretty good," said Busch. "Great job by these guys ... great start for RCR and our Chevrolet. Austin [Dillon] is right up there too. Looking forward to it. Obviously, it's good to start up front. Hopefully you can hold that position and keep it up front.

"All about trying to score some stage points and stay out of the melee. You never know where that comes from. Heck, it could even come from behind you and you can be in it. But a solid start to the weekend. Just again proves that the RCR guys, when it comes to the plate racing stuff, we're on top of that. I feel good about coming to these places, so I appreciate all of the hard work."

Where the rest of the contenders line up

Joey Logano qualified third, Ryan Preece Ford, and Austin Dillon fifth. Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, Josh Berry, Ryan Blaney, and Ty Gibbs filled out the remainder of the top ten.

Advancing into the final round of qualifying were seven Fords, two Chevrolets, and on Toyota. Gibbs was the lone representative for Toyota and also the last driver to advance, beating teammate Christopher Bell by 0.012s. Joe Gibbs Racing earned pole position in this year's Daytona 500, but 500 pole-sitter Chase Briscoe was only 17th in Talladega qualifying.

Some other notable names starting deeper in the field include Bubba Wallace in 20th, Brad Keselowski 22nd, Kyle Larson 25th, Tyler Reddick 26th, Chase Elliott 30th, Ross Chastain 32nd, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -- the most recent winner at Talladega -- only reaching 35th on the grid. The good news for Stenhouse is that he also started outside the top-30 when he won that race last fall.

Single-car qualifying around the 2.66-mile superspeedway was completed without any mechanical issues or on-track incidents.

Photos from Talladega - Qualifying

Cla	Driver	#	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	Z. SmithFront Row Motorsports	38	Ford	1	52.565		182.174
2	K. BuschRichard Childress Racing	8	Chevrolet	1	+0.132 52.697	0.132	181.718
3	J. LoganoTeam Penske	22	Ford	1	+0.135 52.700	0.003	181.708
4	R. PreeceRFK Racing	60	Ford	1	+0.135 52.700	0.000	181.708
5	A. DillonRichard Childress Racing	3	Chevrolet	1	+0.171 52.736	0.036	181.584
6	C. BuescherRFK Racing	17	Ford	1	+0.196 52.761	0.025	181.498
7	A. CindricTeam Penske	2	Ford	1	+0.215 52.780	0.019	181.432
8	J. BerryWood Brothers Racing	21	Ford	1	+0.230 52.795	0.015	181.381
9	R. BlaneyTeam Penske	12	Ford	1	+0.268 52.833	0.038	181.250
10	T. GibbsJoe Gibbs Racing	54	Toyota	1	+0.386 52.951	0.118	180.846

11	C. BellJoe Gibbs Racing	20	Toyota	1	+0.266 52.927	0.013	180.928
12	C. CusterHaas Factory Team	41	Ford	1	+0.280 52.941	0.014	180.881
13	D. HamlinJoe Gibbs Racing	11	Toyota	1	+0.322 52.983	0.042	180.737
14	M. McDowellSpire Motorsports	71	Chevrolet	1	+0.330 52.991	0.008	180.710
15	T. GillilandFront Row Motorsports	34	Ford	1	+0.334 52.995	0.004	180.696
16	W. ByronHendrick Motorsports	24	Chevrolet	1	+0.367 53.028	0.033	180.584
17	C. BriscoeJoe Gibbs Racing	19	Toyota	1	+0.400 53.061	0.033	180.472
18	A. BowmanHendrick Motorsports	48	Chevrolet	1	+0.422 53.083	0.022	180.397
19	A. AllmendingerKaulig Racing	16	Chevrolet	1	+0.423 53.084	0.001	180.393
20	B. Wallace23XI Racing	23	Toyota	1	+0.461 53.122	0.038	180.264
21	T. DillonKaulig Racing	10	Chevrolet	1	+0.462 53.123	0.001	180.261
22	B. KeselowskiRFK Racing	6	Ford	1	+0.478 53.139	0.016	180.207
23	R. Herbst23XI Racing	35	Toyota	1	+0.496 53.157	0.018	180.146
24	D. SuarezTrackHouse Racing	99	Chevrolet	1	+0.530 53.191	0.034	180.030
25	K. LarsonHendrick Motorsports	5	Chevrolet	1	+0.550 53.211	0.020	179.963
26	T. Reddick23XI Racing	45	Toyota	1	+0.561 53.222	0.011	179.926
27	N. GragsonFront Row Motorsports	4	Ford	1	+0.603 53.264	0.042	179.784
28	C. HocevarSpire Motorsports	77	Chevrolet	1	+0.637 53.298	0.034	179.669
29	J. NemechekLegacy Motor Club	42	Toyota	1	+0.676 53.337	0.039	179.538
30	C. ElliottHendrick Motorsports	9	Chevrolet	1	+0.684 53.345	0.008	179.511
31	A. AlfredoBeard Motorsports	62	Chevrolet	1	+0.720 53.381	0.036	179.390
32	R. ChastainTrackHouse Racing	1	Chevrolet	1	+0.738 53.399	0.018	179.329
33	C. WareRick Ware Racing	51	Ford	1	+0.756 53.417	0.018	179.269
34	E. JonesLegacy Motor Club	43	Toyota	1	+0.842 53.503	0.086	178.981
35	R. Stenhouse JrHyak Motorsports	47	Chevrolet	1	+0.873 53.534	0.031	178.877
36	S. van GisbergenTrackHouse Racing	88	Chevrolet	1	+0.877 53.538	0.004	178.864
37	J. HaleySpire Motorsports	7	Chevrolet	1	+0.902 53.563	0.025	178.780
38	B. McLeodLive Fast Motorsports	78	Chevrolet	1	+1.442 54.103	0.540	176.996
39	J. YeleyNY Racing Team	44	Chevrolet	1	+3.010 55.671	1.568	172.011