Front Row Motorsports is no stranger to leading the way at superspeedways, but seeing Zane Smith there was a first. Driving the No. 38 Ford Mustang, he was fastest in both qualifying rounds at Talladega, claiming his first career pole in his 55th start.
Zane Smith Shares Excitement After Securing First-Ever Cup Series Pole at Talladega
Smith will take the pole position in Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at the sport’s biggest venue, with two-time champion Kyle Busch starting next to him.
Before Talladega, the best Cup Series starting spot for the 2022 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion was seventh at Atlanta earlier this year. But at Talladega, he blew past expectations, clocking a lap that beat Busch’s No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevy 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,” Smith said after the qualifiers. “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.”
Joey Logano, last season’s NASCAR Cup Series champion, will start third at Talladega after posting the exact same lap time as Ryan Preece, who slots into fourth. Austin Dillon continued Richard Childress Racing’s strong superspeedway form by qualifying fifth in his No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet.
Chris Buescher grabbed sixth, followed by Austin Cindric, Josh Berry, Ryan Blaney, and Ty Gibbs, rounding out the top 10 for Sunday’s 500-mile showdown.
Here’s how the Jack Link’s 500 starting lineup looks.
- P1: Zane Smith 52.565s (182.174 mph)
- P2: Kyle Busch 52.697s (181.718)
- P3: Joey Logano 52.700s (181.708)
- P4: Ryan Preece 52.700s (181.708)
- P5: Austin Dillon 52.736s (181.584)
- P6: Chris Buescher 52.761s (181.498)
- P7: Austin Cindric 52.780s (181.432)
- P8: Josh Berry 52.795s (181.381)
- P9: Ryan Blaney 52.833s (181.250)
- P10: Ty Gibbs 52.951s (180.846)
- P11: Christopher Bell 52.927s (180.928)
- P12: Cole Custer 52.941s (180.881)
- P13: Denny Hamlin 52.983s (180.737)
- P14: Michael McDowell 52.991s (180.710)
- P15: Todd Gilliland 52.995s (180.696)
- P16: William Byron 53.028s (180.584)
- P17: Chase Briscoe 53.061s (180.472)
- P18: Alex Bowman 53.083s (180.397)
- P19: AJ Allmendinger 53.084s (180.393)
- P20: Bubba Wallace 53.122s (180.264)
- P21: Ty Dillon 53.123s (180.261)
- P22: Brad Keselowski 53.139s (180.207)
- P23: Riley Herbst 53.157s (180.146)
- P24: Daniel Suárez 53.191s (180.030)
- P25: Kyle Larson 53.211s (179.963)
- P26: Tyler Reddick 53.222s (179.926)
- P27: Noah Gragson 53.264s (179.784)
- P28: Carson Hocevar 53.298s (179.669)
- P29: John Hunter Nemechek 53.337s (179.538)
- P30: Chase Elliott 53.345s (179.511)
- P31: Anthony Alfredo 53.381s (179.390)
- P32: Ross Chastain 53.399s (179.329)
- P33: Cody Ware 53.417s (179.269)
- P34: Erik Jones 53.503s (178.981)
- P35: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 53.534s (178.877)
- P36: Shane van Gisbergen 53.538s (178.864)
- P37: Justin Haley 53.563s (178.780)
- P38: BJ McLeod 54.103s (176.996)
- P39: J.J. Yeley 55.671s (172.011)