Alex Bowman notched his second Busch Light Pole Award of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season for the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, April 12.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through a standard practice and qualifying procedure. The field was split into two 25-minute practice sessions apiece before rejoining forces and participating in one two-lap qualifying session (impound). The groups and qualifying order were determined by metrics that included 70% based on previous race finish by owner and 30% based on owner points standings, with the best scoring competitors placed in the second group.
During the qualifying session, Bowman, the 10th-fastest competitor during the event’s practice session earlier on Saturday, posted a pole-winning lap at 128.675 mph in 14.912 seconds. Bowman’s lap was enough for the Tucson, Arizona, native to place his No. 48 Ally/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet entry at the top of the qualifying chart as he will lead the field to the start of Sunday’s main event at the Last Great Colosseum.
With the pole, Bowman joined his teammate William Byron as the only competitors to notch multiple Cup Series poles through the first of nine scheduled events. Bowman’s previous pole of this year occurred at Homestead-Miami Speedway in late March and the Bristol pole award is the second in a row at Bristol and the seventh of his career.
Amid the celebrations of his pole award, Bowman dedicated his award to Jon Edwards, Hendrick Motorsports’ director of racing communications, who passed away earlier this week.
“[The pole] feels really good,” Bowman said on Prime Video. “Just proud of our Ally No. 48 team. Excited for a tire management race. It’s gonna be a lot of fun. We’ll see what we got.”
Bowman, the fastest competitor in Saturday’s practice session, will share the front row with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. after posting his best qualifying lap at 128.563 mph in 14.925 seconds. He was also the fastest competitor during Saturday’s practice session
Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney qualified in the top five. Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell, AJ Allmendinger, Carson Hocevar and Justin Haley completed the top-10 starting grid.
Notably, the following names that included Josh Berry, Michael McDowell, Chase Briscoe, Brad Keselowski, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Austin Cindric, Bubba Wallace, Daniel Suarez, Chris Buescher, rookie Riley Herbst, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Erik Jones, Ryan Preece, Noah Gragson, Ross Chastain, rookie Shane van Gisbergen and Corey LaJoie qualified 11th, 13th, 14th, 16th, 17th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 31st, 35th, 36th and 37th, respectively. In addition, Jesse Love qualified 19th for his Cup Series debut.
During the qualifying session, Kyle Busch spun in between Turns 3 and 4 but claimed the 15th starting spot. And he did so without sustaining any significant damage to his No. 8 Cheddar’s/Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet entry. On the contrary, Joey Logano got loose and hit the outside wall in Turn 2 while posting his qualifying lap. The incident resulted in Logano settling in the 38th starting spot.
With 39 competitors vying for 39 starting spots, all of the competitors made the main event.
Qualifying position, best speed, best time:
1. Alex Bowman, 128.675 mph, 14.912 seconds
2. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 128.563 mph, 14.925 seconds
3. Kyle Larson, 128.511 mph, 14.931 seconds
4. Denny Hamlin, 128.460 mph, 14.937 seconds
5. Ryan Blaney, 128.305 mph, 14.955 seconds
6. Ty Gibbs, 128.228 mph, 14.964 seconds
7. Christopher Bell, 128.185 mph, 14.969 seconds
8. AJ Allmendinger, 127.903 mph, 15.002 seconds
9. Carson Hocevar, 127.758 mph, 15.019 seconds
10. Justin Haley, 127.665 mph, 15.030 seconds
11. Josh Berry, 127.427 mph, 15.058 seconds
12. Ty Dillon, 127.292 mph, 15.074 seconds
13. Michael McDowell, 127.284 mph, 15.075 seconds
14. Chase Briscoe, 127.174 mph, 15.088 seconds
15. Kyle Busch, 127.098 mph, 15.097 seconds
16. Brad Keselowski, 127.090 mph, 15.098 seconds
17. Austin Dillon, 127.081 mph, 15.099 seconds
18. Zane Smith, 126.821 mph, 15.130 seconds
19. Jesse Love, 126.762 mph, 15.137 seconds
20. Chase Elliott, 126.754 mph, 15.138 seconds
21. Austin Cindric, 126.662 mph, 15.149 seconds
22. Bubba Wallace, 126.295 mph, 15.193 seconds
23. Daniel Suarez, 126.204 mph, 15.204 seconds
24. Chris Buescher, 125.856 mph, 15.246 seconds
25. Riley Herbst, 125.848 mph, 15.247 seconds
26. William Byron, 125.716 mph, 15.263 seconds
27. Tyler Reddick, 125.675 mph, 15.268 seconds
28. Erik Jones, 125.625 mph, 15.274 seconds
29. Ryan Preece, 125.494 mph, 15.290 seconds
30. Todd Gilliland, 125.436 mph, 15.297 seconds
31. Noah Gragson, 125.404 mph, 15.301 seconds
32. John Hunter Nemechek, 125.379 mph, 15.304 seconds
33. Cole Custer 125.232 mph, 15.322 seconds
34. Cody Ware, 124.267 mph, 15.441 seconds
35. Ross Chastain, 124.210 mph, 15.448 seconds
36. Shane van Gisbergen, 123.245 mph, 15.569 seconds
37. Corey LaJoie, 122.678 mph, 15.641 seconds
38. Joey Logano, 117.899 mph, 16.275 seconds
39. Josh Bilicki, 117.372 mph, 16.348 seconds
The 2025 Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway is set to occur on Sunday, April 13, and air at on FOX.
