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Ross Chastain his first career NASCAR Cup Series pole on Saturday, hanging onto the top spot in a wild finish to qualifying for the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. Chastain's first Cup pole was a dramatic one, as a fast lap gone wrong for Bubba Wallace allowed Chastain to hang onto the pole at the last possible moment.

Chastain posted a lap of 29.797 seconds (160.687 MPH) in the second round of qualifying, and was then put in prime position to win the pole when Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suarez spun off turn four on his qualifying lap. But the biggest threat to Chastain was Bubba Wallace, who had posted the fastest time in Group B qualifying as 23XI Racing co-owner Michael Jordan looked on from pit road.

Wallace was tracking towards winning his second career pole, when he got sideways on corner exit coming to the checkered flag and spun his 23XI Toyota into the infield. That allowed Chastain -- who watched on in disbelief from beside his car -- to hang on for the top starting spot in Sunday's race. Wallace crossed the finish line to earn ninth starting spot, just ahead of Suarez who was unable to post a time in the final round.

Chastain's first pole is also the first for Trackhouse Racing, and it comes on an important weekend for the team given their strong ties to the Nashville area.

In addition to Wallace and Suarez, calamity corner in turn 4 also ensnared Corey LaJoie. LaJoie got sideways and backed into the outside wall, relegating him to 36th starting spot on Sunday.

Ally 400 starting lineup

  1. #1 - Ross Chastain
  2. #45 - Tyler Reddick
  3. #31 - Justin Haley
  4. #22 - Joey Logano
  5. #24 - William Byron
  6. #19 - Martin Truex Jr.
  7. #5 - Kyle Larson
  8. #11 - Denny Hamlin
  9. #23 - Bubba Wallace
  10. #99 - Daniel Suarez
  11. #8 - Kyle Busch
  12. #17 - Chris Buescher
  13. #12 - Ryan Blaney
  14. #9 - Chase Elliott
  15. #48 - Alex Bowman
  16. #54 - Ty Gibbs (R)
  17. #4 - Kevin Harvick
  18. #14 - Chase Briscoe
  19. #16 - A.J. Allmendinger
  20. #6 - Brad Keselowski
  21. #10 - Aric Almirola
  22. #20 - Christopher Bell
  23. #43 - Erik Jones
  24. #2 - Austin Cindric
  25. #41 - Ryan Preece
  26. #3 - Austin Dillon
  27. #38 - Todd Gilliland
  28. #47 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  29. #51 - J.J. Yeley
  30. #42 - Noah Gragson (R)
  31. #21 - Harrison Burton
  32. #15 - Brennan Poole
  33. #34 - Michael McDowell
  34. #77 - Ty Dillon
  35. #78 - Josh Bilicki
  36. #7 - Corey LaJoie