McDowell Takes Pole in Bennett Qualifying

Michael McDowell continued his pole-winning ways at Atlanta Motor Speedway by taking the top qualifying spot in Bennett Transportation and Logistics Qualifying on Saturday afternoon in preparation for the NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart.

The driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford laid down a lap of 30.926 seconds at 179.267 mph on the 1.54-mile intermediate track that races like a superspeedway. He was second after Round 1 of qualifying.

McDowell earned his first career pole position in his 476th career NASCAR Cup Series race on Feb. 24 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He has since captured the top spot for four consecutive superspeedway races and has started all five of the 2024 season's superspeedway races from the front row.

Joining McDowell on the front row for Sunday's Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart (3 p.m. ET, USA, PRN Radio) was Ryan Blaney, who wheeled his No. 12 Team Penske Ford to a lap of 30.999 seconds at 178.844 mph.

"I don't think you ever go into it (qualifying) like 'oh, we got this'," said McDowell when asked about his confidence going into the qualifying session for Race 1 of the Round of 16 Playoffs. "I knew that we'd have a shot at it. But when Blaney went faster than us that first round, even though it was only by a few hundredths (of a second), you know that it's going to come down to executing everything perfectly."

The balance of the top 10 were: Todd Gilliland (No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford); Josh Berry (No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford); Austin Cindric (No. 2 Team Penske Ford); Kyle Larson (No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet); Joey Logano (No. 22 Team Penske Ford); Austin Dillon (No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet); William Byron (No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet); and Chase Briscoe (No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford).