By David Morgan, Associate Editor
TALLADEGA, Ala. – Chase Briscoe will have the best seat in the house when the green flag drops on Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega after scoring the pole as he looks to defend his Talladega win from a year ago.
The pole (186.065 mph, 51.466 seconds) was the first for Briscoe and the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team this season and first since September of 2025 in a season in which he scored seven poles.
Briscoe’s pole run was also the fastest at Talladega in the Next Gen era, clocking in more than 3 mph faster than the previous record on a weekend in which the Cup cars are sporting a smaller 3.5-inch rear spoiler.
“The lap, for my standpoint, was relatively smooth, I guess, outside of just bouncing around,” said Briscoe. “So yeah, just tried to, I mean, as cliche as it sounds, just tried to push my foot as hard as I could on the pedal, like my son (Brooks) always tells me, just with how much we’re bouncing, sometimes you can come up off of wide open.
“So yeah, I just tried to literally push the thing through the floorboard, and I don’t know if that even made a difference, but in my head, it was doing something. So, yeah, obviously I have a great starting spot tomorrow for our Bass Pro Shops Toyota, but who knows what to expect with just the handling and obviously that fuel first run, it’s going to be all about fuel savings.
“We will probably have the blinker on pretty early trying to not have the lead, but, yeah, we’re going to see how it plays out.”
Austin Hill will join him on the front row, missing out on the pole by 0.032 seconds, followed by Connor Zilisch, Shane van Gisbergen, and Chris Buescher.
Christopher Bell, who currently sits second in the points standings will roll off in sixth, with Alex Bowman, Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, and points leader Kyle Larson rounding out the top-10.
Among the seven drivers still in realistic contention for the title, the Team Penske duo of Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney will start in 16th and 27th, respectively, and last week’s winner Tyler Reddick brings up the rear among the title contenders, starting all the way back in 33rd.
Looking for a season sweep at Talladega, Carson Hocevar will have some work to do from 26th place on Sunday.
Briscoe explained that Sunday will be a crucial test for the drivers still within striking distance of the points lead, noting that a misstep here could spell trouble with just three races remaining in the 2026 season. He currently sits 24 points out heading into Talladega.
“I think it’s massive. I mean, we’re at the point of the season now, especially with how tight the points are that, I mean, literally one point can be the difference in you being the champion or not,” said Briscoe.
“I think when you look at this weekend, this is the one that’s the most wide open of what can happen where Martinsville and Homestead are just a little bit more traditional. But yeah, out of the all the tracks in the Chase, I would say Martinsville, for us on the 19 group, has been the biggest struggles.
“Yeah, I mean, every point we can get, you know, this week is extremely important. Just like I said, it’s going to come down to one point probably. So, yeah, execution’s going to be at extremely high level this weekend. Just the green flag pit stops, everything else that comes along with it. You just don’t want to make a mistake and take yourself out of it.
“It’s one thing if you get caught up in the crash. I mean, hopefully that doesn’t happen, but you, as a driver, don’t want to, to be the reason that you get a speeding penalty or something like that.”
Sunday’s YellaWood 500 is scheduled for 2:00 pm ET on NBC, with the green flag falling at 2:25 pm. The race is planned to run 500.08 miles and 188 laps.
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