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

Joe Puetz-Imagn Images

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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Published
Toby Christie
TOBY CHRISTIE

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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