Southern 500 starting lineup: Bubba Wallace wins first pole of 2024 with NASCAR playoffs spot on the line

Wallace enters Darlington 21 points below the cut line to make the playoffs

By Steven Taranto

Aug 31, 2024 at 3:15 pm ET • 2 min read

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Bubba Wallace won the pole for the Cook Out Southern 500 in qualifying at Darlington Raceway on Saturday, putting down a lap of 29.421 (167.146 MPH) to win his first pole of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season and the third of his career. Wallace's pole is his first since Texas Motor Speedway last September, and it comes at a point where his 2024 season stands to be either made or broken.

After Harrison Burton's upset win at Daytona last week, Wallace was bumped below the playoff cut line and now stands 21 points below Chris Buescher for the final playoff spot, leading to enormously self-critical comments made to NBC Sports in post-race about how it was unacceptable that he had not won yet in 2024 while his teammate Tyler Reddick stands to secure the regular season championship. That led to a key piece of advice shared by 23XI Racing co-owner Michael Jordan, who texted Wallace this week that "the things you want more, cost more."

Wallace responded in the first round of Group A qualifying with a dramatic lap, running a 29.328 (167.676 MPH) to post the fastest time in the session despite bouncing off the wall twice. Then, Wallace followed that up with a monster exit of turn 4 in the final session that other drivers were not able to replicate.

.@BubbaWallace was pushing HARD! 👀 pic.twitter.com/gTyGoMfWAu
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 31, 2024

Compared to last week, Wallace was left singing a much different tune when speaking to NBC Sports after securing the top starting spot.

"I'm a very emotional guy, and I wear it on my sleeve and I'll let you know when it's not a good day or when it's a good day -- Today's a damn good day," he said.

Though his pole puts him in an ideal position to potentially outpoint Chris Buescher on Sunday, Buescher did not qualify far behind in 10th, though both easily outpaced Ross Chastain (22nd), who stands six points behind Wallace and is the last driver still eligible for a playoff spot on points. Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs, who are above the cut line and looking to secure a playoff spot, qualified fifth and 13th respectively.

Starting alongside Wallace on the outside pole will be Carson Hocevar, who earned a career-best second starting spot with a lap of 29.445 (167.010 MPH). Hocevar's qualifying run also marks the best in team history for Spire Motorsports, exceeding the team's previous best qualifying effort of fifth with Corey LaJoie at Circuit of the Americas in March. Also qualifying up front was Chase Briscoe, who earned his best starting spot of the entire season in third.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. did not make a qualifying attempt after crashing in practice and will start 36th.