Briscoe wins YellaWood 500 pole over Austin Hill
NXTbets Pro | Published On: October 24, 2026
Qualifying result
Chase Briscoe won the Busch Light Pole Award for the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, then turned the quickest lap in qualifying with a 51.466-second run at 186.065 mph. He edged Austin Hill by 0.032 seconds for the top spot, a narrow margin that put Briscoe on pole for the first time in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season and gave him the 10th pole of his Cup career.
The run put Briscoe at the front of a Talladega field that offered little room for error. With no practice session scheduled before teams went into the two-round qualifying format, every lap carried added weight. Briscoe answered the pressure with the fastest time of the session and held off a tight challenge from Hill, who qualified second. The pole became the headline result of a session that decided the full starting lineup without any track time beforehand.
Briscoe’s effort also fit into a larger weekend context, with the Cup Series points race adding more weight to the front end of the field. Kyle Larson entered the weekend as the points leader ahead of Christopher Bell and Briscoe, and the qualifying order at Talladega gave the top contenders a range of starting positions to work from. Briscoe’s pole put him in the clean air at the start, and it also strengthened his place among the early season front-runners in the championship picture.
Talladega qualifying order
The rest of the top of the lineup filled in behind Briscoe and Hill, giving Talladega a crowded front group headed by drivers who had earned spots near the front. Connor Zilisch qualified third, Shane van Gisbergen fourth and Chris Buescher fifth. Christopher Bell took sixth, Alex Bowman seventh, Ty Gibbs eighth, Denny Hamlin ninth and Larson 10th. That group placed a mix of steady qualifiers and established front-runners near the front of the field for one of the sport’s most unpredictable tracks.
The session produced a full 40-car lineup, leaving no empty spots in the field and no shortage of traffic for the opening stages of the race. That mattered at Talladega, where starting position could help shape strategy but rarely locked in the final result. The front rows mattered for track position, yet the size of the field meant a driver could move forward quickly or slide backward just as fast once the racing began. The qualifying results gave each team a starting point, but the race would still reward timing, drafting help and clean execution through the pack.
Several other notable names landed further down the order, including Joey Logano in 16th and Tyler Reddick in 33rd. Those starting spots offered different paths into the race. Logano was positioned in the middle of the field, while Reddick was deeper in traffic. That spread across the lineup underlined how Talladega qualifying could set up a race but never fully define it. The full grid gave teams a clear picture of where they would begin, and it left the longer contest to decide who could turn a fast lap into a strong finish.
Larson leads contenders
Larson’s 10th-place starting spot added another layer to a weekend that began with him leading the points standings. He arrived at Talladega ahead of Bell and Briscoe in the championship chase, and the qualifying results placed those three drivers in different parts of the front half of the field. Briscoe held the pole, Bell was sixth and Larson was 10th. That spread meant the early laps could carry more weight for all three as they sought to maintain position in a pack that could change shape quickly.
Bell’s sixth-place qualifying effort kept him within striking distance of the front. Bowman, Gibbs and Hamlin also sat in the upper part of the lineup, and gave the race a deep group of contenders clustered near the front. Zilisch’s third-place run and van Gisbergen’s fourth-place result added more speed to the top of the board, while Buescher’s fifth-place qualifying spot kept him in the mix right behind them. The order gave several drivers a chance to be near the lead and avoid immediate congestion.
Briscoe’s pole stood out because of both the margin and the timing. He beat Hill by just 0.032 seconds, but that small edge carried the biggest reward in the session. The lap was fast enough to secure the Busch Light Pole Award and put him at the head of a full field at one of NASCAR’s most demanding tracks. With a no-practice format, every team had to rely on preparation, and Briscoe delivered the best answer in qualifying.
