Chase Elliott on pole as lineup is set for GEICO 500 at Talladega

From FOXSports.com.

Chase Elliott won the pole for Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, as the big dogs of NASCAR get set to slug it out over 500 tense miles.

Elliott, who earlier this year won the Daytona 500 pole, captured the No. 1 spot with a lap of 192.661 miles per hour in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Austin Dillon, the 2014 Daytona 500 polesitter, was second at 192.441 mph in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

There were no real shockers or outliers during time trials, as seven of the top 12 qualifiers belonged to either Joe Gibbs Racing or Hendrick Motorsports, and an eighth was a JGR satellite team.

All four Hendrick Chevrolets were in the top 12 with Elliott on the pole, Dale Earnhardt Jr. third, Jimmie Johnson fifth and  Kasey Kahne 11th.

Four of the five JGR and Furniture Row Racing Toyotas made it to the final round, with only defending Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch failing to make the cut. Busch will start tomorrow’s race in 17th.

The other Toyota drivers were fast: Matt Kenseth was fourth, Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin eighth, Carl Edwards ninth and Martin Truex Jr. 12th.

Tony Stewart will start the race in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet, but will get out of the car at the first available opportunity and turn it over to Ty Dillon, who will finish the race in it.

By starting the race, Stewart will get credited with the driver points, although he’ll have to drop to the back of the field prior to the green flag because Dillon drove the No. 14 in qualifying.

Stewart’s teammate, Danica Patrick, was a hugely disappointing 37th in qualifying after being in fourth-fastest in both practices on Friday. “I don’t know,” said Patrick. “The car’s not real fast but that doesn’t mean anything isn’t possible on Sunday.”

Kevin Harvick, the 2014 Sprint Cup champ, qualified 29th in his SHR Chevy.

Josh Wise was the only driver who failed to qualify.