Zane Smith Blasts to First Career Pole in Talladega Qualifying

Zane Smith captured his first career NASCAR Cup Series pole on Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway. | Josh Calloni | Racing America On SI

Zane Smith can officially check winning a NASCAR Cup Series pole position off his career resume. The 25-year-old Front Row Motorsports driver was fastest in both rounds of Saturday's qualifying session at the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway and will lead the field to green in Sunday's Jack Link's 500.

STARTING LINEUP: Jack Link's 500 at Talladega

"It's something to check off an accomplishment that I've always wanted," Smith said of the pole. "You know, I've always wanted to race on Sunday, and to be ablet get a pole on Sunday now is really cool to say."

Now, he will look to cap off the weekend with his first career NASCAR Cup Series win in Sunday's race, but he knows it'll take a lot more than a fast car at the unpredictable Talladega Superspeedway.

"Hopefully, tomorrow I can say I'm a race winner in the NASCAR Cup Series, but I know it's going to be a crazy day," Smith explained.

Smith's first career pole marks the third consecutive pole position for Front Row Motorsports at Talladega Superspeedway. The speed of his team at this type of track has him excited about his prospects on Sunday.

"FRM has always brought a ton of speed, and Fords are always fast on the superspeedways. It makes you maybe a little bit more excited to get to these style of races, knowing that your car is going to be fast," Smith said. "It's going to race good. The Fords push and race really well together."

The California native secured the pole with an eye-opening 52.565-second (182.174 mph) lap in the final round of Busch Light Pole qualifying. The driver of the No. 38 Title Max Ford Mustang Darkhorse clocked in 0.132 seconds faster than the next closest competitor, which at a superspeedway, where margins are razor thin, might as well have been a second margin.

"Obviously, a lot of speed in the Title Max Ford. Not a whole lot of my doing," Smith chuckled. "Just off of pit road just making sure I hit my lights. I know my up-to-speed laps were pretty good, so, that's the main thing we focus on and being as smooth as possible."

Kyle Busch, who continues to look to snap a winless drought dating back to a victory at World Wide Technology Raceway in June 2023, will start from the outside of the front row in Sunday's race at Talladega.

Busch, driving the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, clocked in a lap time of 52.697 seconds, which locked up the second starting spot in Sunday's race.

Joey Logano will start on the inside of Row 2 after cranking out the third-fastest lap in the final round of Saturday's qualifying session, and Ryan Preece, who has had an incredible first season with RFK Racing, continued the momentum by taking the fourth starting position.

Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, Josh Berry, Ryan Blaney, and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top-10 qualifiers for Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series event at Talladega Superspeedway.

Among the notable qualifiers in the session was Cole Custer, who nabbed the 12th starting spot in the No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Not only is the great qualifying run the best of the opening 10 races for Custer and the No. 41 team, but it'll mark the first time Custer has started from inside the top-20 this season.

Anthony Alfredo was the highest of three drivers, who are driving "Open" entries in the field. Alfredo clocked in 31st-fastest in the No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet.

The other two Open entries will start in the final two positions of the field as BJ McLeod qualified 38th in the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet, and JJ Yeley qualified 39th in the No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet.

Slotting in just ahead of the final two cars in the starting lineup was Justin Haley, who will start from the 37th position in his first race since the departure of crew chief Rodney Childers, who served in the role for Haley over the opening nine races of the season.

RELATED: Justin Haley Was Surprised by Departure of Crew Chief Rodney Childers

Obviously, qualifying means little at superspeedways as the draft is the great equalizer, and the majority of the field will be balancing fuel saving throughout the race to put themselves in position for a good finish. But the No. 7 Spire Motorsports team has had a really rough start to its first weekend, with interim crew chief Ryan Sparks calling the shots for Haley.