TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) — Chase Briscoe finally got over the hump in NASCAR Cup Series qualifying, earning his first pole position of the season Saturday.

Briscoe averaged 186.065 mph in his No. 19 Toyota at Talladega Superspeedway, nudging Austin Hill (185.949) from the top starting spot for Sunday’s 500-mile race, which Briscoe won a year ago.

It’s the first pole in 13 months for Briscoe, who led the series with seven poles in 2025.

“Last year, truthfully, it felt easy everywhere we would go,” said the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, who has qualified second three times this year. “This year, we just haven’t been as strong, and it’s kind of flipped. Going into this season, if you would have told me it would have taken until Race 33 to get a pole, I probably wouldn’t have believed you.”

Trackhouse Racing rookie Connor Zilisch qualified a career-best third, and teammate Shane van Gisbergen will start a career-best fourth at Talladega.

Briscoe was joined in the top 10 by teammates Christopher Bell (sixth), Ty Gibbs (eighth) and Denny Hamlin (ninth). Briscoe, Bell and Hamlin are in championship contention and trying to catch Chase points leader Kyle Larson, who qualified 10th.

Hill will start a career-best second in the No. 33 Chevrolet. He was thrust into the Cup Series five months ago to fill the void left by two-time champion Kyle Busch, who died from sepsis caused by severe pneumonia.

Hill has since posted a best finish of 18th in the Cup Series while continuing to race full time for Richard Childress Racing in the second-tier O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. He will spend the offseason studying aerodynamics to improve on restarts when he moves exclusively into Cup next year.

“I’m going to have to really look at the data,” Hill said. “I didn’t want to have the opportunity in the Cup car this way, but this is what life is now, and I’m trying to make the most of it.”

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing