NASCAR playoffs at Talladega starting lineup: Aric Almirola wins his second pole of the 2023 season

Almirola now has multiple poles in a season for the first time in his career

By Steven Taranto

Sep 30, 2023 at 7:02 pm ET • 1 min read

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Aric Almirola won the pole for the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in qualifying on Saturday afternoon, posting a lap of 52.715 seconds (181.656 MPH) in the final round of qualifying for his second pole of the 2023 season and his first since Atlanta in July. Almirola's pole is the sixth of his Cup Series career, and he has now won multiple poles in a season for the first time in his Cup Series career.

Almirola paced a qualifying session that was once again dominated by Fords, as most superspeedway qualifying sessions in 2023 have been. Seven Fords earned top 10 starting spots, including playoff drivers Brad Keselowski in fifth and Ryan Blaney in 10th. Kyle Larson was the fastest Chevrolet and fastest of the playoff drivers in fourth position, while Bubba Wallace's ninth place qualifying run was fastest of the Toyotas.

Qualifying almost featured a major upset, as NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Riley Herbst -- driving a third, part-time car for Front Row Motorsports and making just his fourth Cup start -- was fastest of all drivers in the opening round of qualifying. Herbst came up just short of the pole in sixth but matched his best-career qualifying effort after previously qualifying sixth at Daytona in August.

The only issue of qualifying was experienced by Carson Hocevar, whose car reportedly shut down going down the backstraightaway during his lap of record. Hocevar did not post a qualifying speed and will start shotgun on the field in 38th.