Zane Smith utilized his best qualifying performance from the first session into the second and capped the speed off by achieving his first Busch Light Pole Award for the Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, April 26.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through two qualifying rounds. The first round was comprised of a single-lap session for each of the entered competitors. After the first round, the top-10 fastest qualifiers transferred to the second and final single-lap qualifying round, where they contended for the pole position. When the qualifying session commenced for the first round, Smith took care of business early by notching a fast qualifying lap at 181.842 mph in 52.661 seconds in his No. 38 TitleMax/Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry.
Smith’s lap was not only the best, but it enabled him to be one of 10 competitors to transfer into the second and final round. During the final round, Smith, who was the final competitor to qualify, posted a pole-winning lap at 182.174 mph in 52.565 seconds, which was enough to topple Kyle Busch off the top of the chart by four-tenths of a second.
As a result, Smith, the 2022 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion from Huntington Beach, California, achieved his first Cup Series career pole for his 55th series start. His previous best starting spot for a Cup event was seventh, which occurred at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February. In addition, Smith became the 243rd competitor overall to win a pole position in NASCAR’s premier series and the first to do so at Talladega since former competitor Brian Scott made the previous accomplishment in May 2014.
The pole award was the eighth in the Cup division for Front Row Motorsports and the second of the 2025 season for the Ford nameplate.
“I wish I could take a lot of the credit for [the pole], but truthfully, just a really fast [Front Row Motorsports] Ford,” Smith, who will contend for his first Cup Series victory on Sunday, said on Prime Video. “So cool. Man, a pole-sitter in the Cup Series. That’s awesome. Just a huge shoutout to all these [No. 38] guys. They’ve been doing an awesome job this year. Long race tomorrow, but a great starting spot. Super stoked for this.”
Kyle Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion and a two-time race winner at Talladega, will start alongside Smith on the front row after he came within striking distance of netting both his first pole of the year and at Talladega.
Joey Logano, Ryan Preece and Austin Dillon will start in the top five while Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, Josh Berry, Ryan Blaney and Ty Gibbs completed the top-10 starting spots, respectively. All of the previous mentioned competitors, including Smith and Busch, contended for the pole position during the second qualifying round.
Notably, the following competitors that included Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Michael McDowell, William Byron, Chase Briscoe, Alex Bowman, AJ Allmendinger, Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski, rookie Riley Herbst, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, Noah Gragson, Carson Hocevar, John Hunter Nemechek, Chase Elliott, Anthony Alfredo, Ross Chastain, Erik Jones, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and rookie Shane van Gisbergen qualified 11th, 13th, 14th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 32nd, 34th, 35th and 36th, respectively.
In addition, Justin Haley, who is working with crew chief Ryan Sparks following the departure of Rodney Childers at Spire Motorsports, will start 37th.
With 39 competitors vying for 39 starting spots, all of the entered competitors made the main event.
Talladega Qualifying position, best speed, best time:
1. Zane Smith, 182.174 mph, 52.565 seconds
2. Kyle Busch, 181.718 mph, 52.697 seconds
3. Joey Logano, 181.708 mph, 52.700 seconds
4. Ryan Preece, 181.708 mph, 52.700 seconds
5. Austin Dillon, 181.584 mph, 52.736 seconds
6. Chris Buescher, 181.498 mph, 52.761 seconds
7. Austin Cindric, 181.432 mph, 52.780 seconds
8. Josh Berry, 181.381 mph, 52.795 seconds
9. Ryan Blaney, 181.250 mph, 52.833 seconds
10. Ty Gibbs, 180.846 mph, 52.951 seconds
11. Christopher Bell, 180.928 mph, 52.927 seconds
12. Cole Custer, 180.881 mph, 52.941 seconds
13. Denny Hamlin, 180.737 mph, 52.983 seconds
14. Michael McDowell, 180.710 mph, 52.991 seconds
15. Todd Gilliland, 180.696 mph, 52.995 seconds
16. William Byron, 180.584 mph, 53.028 seconds
17. Chase Briscoe, 180.472 mph, 53.061 seconds
18. Alex Bowman, 180.397 mph, 53.083 seconds
19. AJ Allmendinger, 180.393 mph, 53.084 seconds
20. Bubba Wallace, 180.264 mph, 53.122 seconds
21. Ty Dillon, 180.261 mph, 53.123 seconds
22. Brad Keselowski, 180.207 mph, 53.139 seconds
23. Riley Herbst, 180.146 mph, 53.157 seconds
24. Daniel Suarez, 180.030 mph, 53.191 seconds
25. Kyle Larson, 179.963 mph, 53.211 seconds
26.Tyler Reddick, 179.926 mph, 53.222 seconds
27. Noah Gragson, 179.784 mph, 53.264 seconds
28. Carson Hocevar, 179.669 mph, 53.298 seconds
29. John Hunter Nemechek, 179.538 mph, 53.337 seconds
30. Chase Elliott, 179.511 mph, 53.345 seconds
31. Anthony Alfredo, 179.390 mph, 53.381 seconds
32. Ross Chastain, 179.329 mph, 53.399 seconds
33. Cody Ware, 179.269 mph, 53.417 seconds
34. Erik Jones, 178.981 mph, 53.503 seconds
35. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 178.877 mph, 53.534 seconds
36. Shane van Gisbergen, 178.864 mph, 53.538 seconds
37. Justin Haley, 178.780 mph, 53.563 seconds
38. BJ McLeod, 176.996 mph, 54.103 seconds
39. JJ Yeley, 172.011 mph, 55.671 seconds
The 2025 Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway is set to occur on Sunday, April 27, and air at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.
