Starting Lineup: NASCAR Cup Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol

AJ Allmendinger charged to his first pole position in more than 10 years as he will start Saturday night's NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway from the first starting position.
Allmendinger turned a fast lap of 15.117 seconds (126.930 mph), which was enough for him to top Ryan Blaney, a NASCAR Cup Series Playoff contender, for the pole position by 0.003 seconds.
Related: NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Grid
Prior to collecting his fifth career pole on Saturday, Allmendinger's most recent pole came at Watkins Glen International in 2015. Allmendinger's five career poles have all come at five different tracks. In addition to Bristol and Watkins Glen, Allmendinger has also scored poles at Phoenix Raceway (2010), Kansas Speedway (2012), and Sonoma Raceway (2015).
Austin Cindric, Blaney's Team Penske teammate and fellow Playoff contender, will start from the third position, followed by Ty Gibbs and Kyle Larson.
Here are where all of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff contenders slotted in:
Ryan Blaney (2nd), Austin Cindric (3rd), Kyle Larson (5th), Denny Hamlin (6th), William Byron (7th), Bubba Wallace (8th), Christopher Bell (9th), Josh Berry (10th), Ross Chastain (13th), Tyler Reddick (14th), Alex Bowman (15th), Chase Elliott (16th), Joey Logano (22nd), Austin Dillon (23rd), Shane van Gisbergen (28th), Chase Briscoe (31st).
Here is the official starting lineup for Saturday night's NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Race 29 of 36.
Pos | Car | Driver | Lap time | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | 15.117 | 126.930 |
2 | 12 | Ryan Blaney (P) | 15.120 | 126.905 |
3 | 2 | Austin Cindric (P) | 15.132 | 126.804 |
4 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | 15.142 | 126.720 |
5 | 5 | Kyle Larson (P) | 15.148 | 126.670 |
6 | 11 | Denny Hamlin (P) | 15.191 | 126.3121 |
7 | 24 | William Byron (P) | 15.206 | 126.187 |
8 | 23* | Bubba Wallace (P) | 15.208 | 126.170 |
9 | 20 | Christopher Bell (P) | 15.214 | 126.121 |
10 | 21 | Josh Berry (P) | 15.214 | 126.121 |
11 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 15.220 | 126.071 |
12 | 77 | Carson Hocevar | 15.222 | 126.054 |
13 | 1 | Ross Chastain (P) | 15.239 | 125.914 |
14 | 45* | Tyler Reddick (P) | 15.246 | 125.856 |
15 | 48 | Alex Bowman (P) | 15.258 | 125.757 |
16 | 9 | Chase Elliott (P) | 15.271 | 125.650 |
17 | 7 | Justin Haley | 15.272 | 125.642 |
18 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | 15.273 | 125.633 |
19 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | 15.273 | 125.633 |
20 | 60 | Ryan Preece | 15.281 | 125.568 |
21 | 17 | Chris Buescher | 15.290 | 125.494 |
22 | 22 | Joey Logano (P) | 15.298 | 125.428 |
23 | 3 | Austin Dillon (P) | 15.332 | 125.150 |
24 | 38* | Zane Smith | 15.344 | 125.052 |
25 | 71 | Michael McDowell | 15.361 | 124.914 |
26 | 41 | Cole Custer | 15.375 | 124.800 |
27 | 43 | Erik Jones | 15.388 | 124.695 |
28 | 88 | Shane van Gisbergen (P) # | 15.396 | 124.630 |
29 | 35* | Riley Herbst # | 15.397 | 124.622 |
30 | 4* | Noah Gragson | 15.402 | 124.581 |
31 | 19 | Chase Briscoe (P) | 15.431 | 124.347 |
32 | 8 | Kyle Busch | 15.432 | 124.339 |
33 | 33* | Austin Hill (i) | 15.480 | 123.953 |
34 | 51 | Cody Ware | 15.600 | 123.000 |
35 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | 15.612 | 122.905 |
36 | 34* | Todd Gilliland | 15.631 | 122.756 |
37 | 10 | Ty Dillon | 15.657 | 122.552 |
38 | 67* | Corey Heim (i) | 15.673 | 122.427 |
39 | 66* | Chad Finchum | 16.054 | 119.522 |
(P) indicates NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Driver
# indicates Rookie of the Year contender
* indicates "Open" entry
(i) indicates a driver ineligible to score points
The NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway is set for Saturday, September 13, and will be televised on USA Network. Television coverage of the race is set to kick off at 7:30 PM ET.
The Performance Racing Network (PRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol.
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Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.
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