NASCAR News: Zane Smith wins pole for Talladega Cup Race

24-year-old Front Row Motorsports driver Zane Smith claimed the first pole position of his NASCAR Cup Series career at a snail’s pace 182.174mph – over 8 seconds per lap slower than the lap record of 212mph set by Bill Elliott around the Talladega Superspeedway.

Smith, the 2022 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, will lead the field to the green flag in Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at the sport’s biggest track with two-time series champion Kyle Busch starting alongside Smith on the front row — his best start since earning pole position at Dover Motor Speedway last spring.

Smith earned his first pole position with a lap of 182.174 mph in the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford – bettering Busch’s time by a slight 0.132-second on the 2.66-mile circuit.

“Obviously a lot of speed,” said Smith, who was fastest in opening-round time trials and improved that time in the final round. “Just really proud of how our whole team has been working together before our one-week break [last week], and I feel like that one-week break was perfect not to reset but to digest and think about what we need to rebuild on.

“And now we’re off to a good start for this next long stretch. Proud of the speed and everything we’ve been doing, just need to execute a little bit better but a ton of speed this weekend. Long race tomorrow and a lot of things are going to happen and go on, but obviously we have the speed to do it. We’ll see how it goes.”

Seven Fords, a pair of Chevrolets, and a single Toyota advanced to that 10-car final round.

Reigning series champion and Team Penske’s Joey Logano, along with Roush Fenway Keselowski’s Ryan Preece, will start from row two.

Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon, RFK’s Chris Buescher, Penske’s Austin Cindric, Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry, Penske’s Ryan Blaney and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs (the only Toyota) rounded out the second-round qualifiers.

Talladega NASCAR Cup Qualifying Results

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