Playoff driver Christopher Bell won the pole position Saturday for Sunday’s 500-mile NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.
Bell, 11th in the playoff standings and below the cutline entering Sunday’s race, ran 180.591 mph to edge second-place Kyle Larson at 180.516.
Playoff drivers took six of the top-10 starting spots.
MORE: Talladega Cup qualifying results
The race is the second in the second round of the playoffs. Any playoff driver who wins the race will automatically advance to the next round.
Joey Logano leads the playoff standings.
Noah Gragson, replacing Alex Bowman, who is sitting out the race with concussion-like symptoms, qualified seventh.
The race (2 p.m., ET) will be broadcast by NBC.