Ryan Blaney will lead the sector to the inexperienced flag in Sunday evening’s NASCAR Cup race, driving the No. 12 Group Penske Ford. That is Blaney’s 14th profession pole and his second of the 2026 season.
Blaney’s pole lap was 30.815s, 0.036s away from Penske teammate Joey Logano, who will be a part of him on the entrance row within the No. 22 Group Penske Ford.
And whereas he was pleased with the pole, Blaney is aware of there are nonetheless plenty of unknowns with no follow this weekend.
“How it should react tomorrow within the race, in visitors, because the observe adjustments, and as you get laps on the tires — all that,” mentioned Blaney. “You hope you might have a good deal with on, however the aim as we speak was to attempt to qualify the most effective we might, and we had been ready to do this. So, I recognize everybody on this #12 automobile for bringing me a quick automobile. It is nice to have a Group Penske entrance row. That half is nice, and I am wanting ahead tomorrow to see what we have now within the draft.”
Kyle Larson will begin third, Austin Dillon fourth, and Daniel Suarez fifth. Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain, and Brad Keselowski crammed out the rest of the highest ten.
Spherical 1
It was a really windy and sizzling day at EchoPark Speedway, and people tough circumstances rapidly led to a difficulty as Chad Finchum spun within the No. 66 automobile proper as qualifying bought underway.
That was the one incident, although some automobiles did shoot up the observe as they struggled for stability.
On the high of the charts, it was Penske good with all three automobiles 1-2-3 in Spherical 1 of qualifying. Chastain was the best Chevrolet, and no Toyotas superior as they prioritized race setup over qualifying velocity. All JGR and 23XI automobiles certified twentieth or worse, with Denny Hamlin down in twenty eighth and Tyler Reddick thirty first.
Spherical 2
Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Group Penske Ford
Picture by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Photographs
A. Dillon was the tenth and closing driver to advance into the second spherical of qualifying, beating the top-qualifying Toyota of Erik Jones in eleventh. There was simply 0.002s between them for the ultimate switch spot.
Within the closing spherical, the tenth-fastest driver from Spherical 1 went out first, so it was Dillon setting the brand new benchmark within the battle for pole.
Larson then bested Dillon, however solely by 0.002s. He held the highest spot till Penske arrived, with each Blaney and Logano overtaking him on the velocity charts.
2026 NASCAR Cup Atlanta Beginning Lineup
1
12
Ford
179.912
2
22
Ford
179.702
3
5
Chevrolet
179.406
4
3
Chevrolet
179.394
5
7
Chevrolet
179.359
6
48
Chevrolet
179.226
7
9
Chevrolet
179.203
8
2
Ford
179.191
9
1
Chevrolet
178.977
10
6
Ford
178.729
11
43
Toyota
178.683
12
97
Chevrolet
178.660
13
17
Ford
178.465
14
77
Chevrolet
178.413
15
47
Chevrolet
178.378
16
10
Chevrolet
178.361
17
J. BerryWood Brothers Racing
21
Ford
178.292
18
71
Chevrolet
178.264
19
60
Ford
178.212
20
19
Toyota
178.195
21
34
Ford
178.155
22
23
Toyota
178.098
23
54
Toyota
177.983
24
42
Toyota
177.829
25
C. ZilischTrackHouse Racing
88
Chevrolet
177.698
26
24
Chevrolet
177.664
27
16
Chevrolet
177.624
28
11
Toyota
177.363
29
35
Toyota
177.306
30
33
Chevrolet
177.215
31
45
Toyota
177.091
32
20
Toyota
177.017
33
41
Chevrolet
176.995
34
38
Ford
176.949
35
51
Chevrolet
176.476
36
4
Ford
176.207
37
78
Chevrolet
174.653
38
66
Ford
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