Hendrick Motorsports enjoyed a clean sweep of the top four spots in qualifying Saturday with Chase Elliott taking the poll for Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama.
Elliott was followed by teammates Alex Bowman, William Byron and Jimmie Johnson. Here is a look at the full qualifying order, courtesy of NASCAR.com (time in seconds):
1. Chase Elliott: 49.692
2. Alex Bowman: 49.732
3. William Byron: 49.808
4. Jimmie Johnson: 49.988
5. Aric Almirola: 49.992
6. Brad Keselowski: 50.007
7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: 50.053
8. Clint Bowyer: 50.055
9. Ryan Blaney: 50.078
10. Joey Logano: 50.130
11. Erik Jones: 50.179
12. Kyle Larson: 50.195
13. Ryan Newman: 50.223
14. Paul Menard: 50.264
15. Kevin Harvick: 50.315
16. Matt Tifft: 50.316
17. David Ragan: 50.341
18. Martin Truex Jr.: 50.452
19. Daniel Suarez: 50.481
20. Austin Dillon: 50.567
21. Ty Dillon: 50.577
22. Michael McDowell: 50.594
23. Chris Buescher: 50.616
24. Kurt Busch: 50.656
25. Landon Cassill: 50.750
26. Kyle Busch: 50.776
27. Bubba Wallace: 50.863
28. Brendan Gaughan: 50.873
29. Daniel Hemric: 50.881
30. Ryan Preece: 51.011
31. Matt DiBenedetto: 51.176
32. Parker Kligerman: 51.956
33. Corey LaJoie: 52.002
34. Ross Chastain: 52.324
35. Blake Jones: 52.407
36. Joey Gase: 53.101
37. Austin Theriault: 53.227
38. Reed Sorenson: 53.471
39. Spencer Boyd: 54.404
40. Denny Hamlin: 0.000
After capturing his fourth pole of the season, Elliott looked ahead to Sunday's race, which tends to be one of the most exciting and chaotic events on the schedule:
Elliott didn't get off to an ideal start last week in the NASCAR playoffs' round of 12 at Dover, as an engine issue caused him to finish 38th. His bid to bounce back started in strong fashion Saturday, however.
Teammates Bowman and Byron are also in the playoffs, and they are above the cutoff line in seventh and eighth, respectively.
Larson, Truex Jr., Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Harvick, Keselowski, Logano, Bowyer and Blaney are the other drivers who are still in the championship hunt as well.
Among them, Keselowski, Bowyer, Blaney and Logano will start in the top 10 on Sunday. Busch had a tough run that will force him to start 26th, but the worst break of the day went to Hamlin.
NASCAR tweeted video of Hamlin taking his car behind the wall prior to his scheduled qualifying run:
It was later revealed that an engine issue prevented Hamlin from qualifying, which means he will start at the back of the field:
Hamlin is in good position in the standings currently in third place, which is 48 points ahead of the ninth-place driver. Also, making a run from the back of the pack isn't necessarily a huge undertaking at Talladega, but staying out of wrecks could be a challenge.
The Hendrick cars have to be considered the top contenders to win Sunday since they can work together from the green flag on, but because of the unpredictability of the track, almost anyone in the field is a threat to win.
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