Aric Almirola set the quickest time in qualifying on Saturday to score the pole for Sunday’s YellaWood 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN).

Almirola outlasted the nine other qualifiers in the second and final round with going 181.656 mph in his No. 10 Ford for his sixth career pole.

On superspeedway’s this season, the Florida native has started 4th (Daytona 500), 2nd (Coke Zero Sugar 400), 2nd (Talladega spring), 5th and 1st (Atlanta) and now pole in Talladega 2.

Only 2 pole winners though (Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 2017, Denny Hamlin 2020) won in the last 37 Cup races at Talladega. Those are the only 2 front row starters to win since the playoff race of 2011 (24 races). Previously, 5 of the 13 races before were won by front row starters. On top of that, only 1 Daytona pole winner has won there since 2011 (Dale Earnhardt Jr. 2016) too.

That doesn’t necessarily bode well for Aric and Joey Logano who will start second in his No. 22 Ford .004-seconds behind Almirola. Logano has qualified third (Daytona 500), 14th (Coke Zero Sugar 400), 1st and 4th (Atlanta), 8th and 2nd here.

The last 4 winners each started 19th, 19th, 16th, 17th though.

“You know these races come down to pit stops really, track position at the end and so having a good pit stall, a clean-in and clean-out, stuff like that, that all matters,’’ said Almirola, who won this Fall race on the 2.66-mile Talladega high banks in 2018 and gets first pit selection with this pole-winning effort Saturday; his sixth career pole.

“I’m just really proud of all the guys on this 10-team. We’ve been working so hard to put speed in these Smithfield Ford Mustangs and [engine builder] Doug Yates obviously brings a ton of horsepower when we come to these type race tracks.

“It’s not a secret, this has been a tough year for us,’’ Almirola said of the four-car SHR organization that is still racing for its first win of the season.

“So to show that kind of grit and resolve with everyone continuing to grind and work and bring fast race cars to the race track. That says a lot about our race team. Just really proud. The driver has a small part to do with it at these places, but a lot of it is just the speed built into the cars.’’

Chase Briscoe will start third with Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski rounding out the top five.

“I think [starting position] definitely helps for the first stage and hopefully we can get some stage points, but outside of the first stage, I don’t think it really matters a ton,’’ said Larson, who is competing for his first Talladega victory.

“I feel happy we made the final round, but we’ll see. I think it should be good.’’

Briscoe has qualified 5th, 4th, 3rd in his last three Talladega tries. He was on the pole for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 and 8th and 3rd in Atlanta. Larson has started 2nd and 7th in Daytona, 9th and 8th in Atlanta and now 9th and 4th here. This was his fifth straight top 5 start at Talladega (5th, 5th, 2nd 9th, 4th). The previous 4, he’s finished 37th, 4th, 18th, 33rd.

Other playoff drivers are starting: William Byron (8th), Bubba Wallace (9th), Ryan Blaney (10th), Denny Hamlin (12th), Tyler Reddick (13th), Christopher Bell (15th), Martin Truex Jr (16th), Chris Buescher (24th), Kyle Busch (25th) and Ross Chastain (32nd).

Starting Lineup