NASCAR at Talladega 2016 Qualifying Results: Race Order, Final Times, Reaction – Bleacher Report

Chase Elliott captured his second pole of the season and of his young career Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway, and he will lead the field to the start-finish line in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Geico 500.

As pointed out by Jeff Gluck of USA Today, Elliott’s qualifying run continued a trend of the No. 24 team excelling at superspeedways: 

Chase Elliott makes it two-for-two on restrictor plate poles. First Daytona 500, now Talladega.

— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) April 30, 2016

Here is a full rundown of how all 41 cars fared and where the 40 qualifiers will start when the race commences Sunday:

Elliott finished the first round of qualifying in second behind Austin Dillon but ultimately managed to make some improvements in the second round to secure the pole position comfortably.

According to Hendrick Motorsports on Twitter, the 20-year-old rookie gave all the credit to his team despite his fine performance:

“We’re excited. This is cool. This has nothing to do with me, it’s the car. The team did a good job.” –@chaseelliott pic.twitter.com/s9CNKvWFHx

— Hendrick Motorsports (@TeamHendrick) April 30, 2016

While everything came together for Elliott and the No. 24 team, succeeding at Talladega may well be in the youngster’s blood.

Per Jennifer Flanagan-Leger of the Woodruff City Bulletin, Elliott’s pole came on the 29-year anniversary of his father, Bill Elliott, turning in a record-breaking run at the track:

@chaseelliott wins the pole @TalladegaSuperS on the same day in 1987 his father Bill Elliott set the track record at 212.809 mph

— Jennifer FlanaganL (@JFlanaganL) April 30, 2016

Elliott put himself in fine position to potentially challenge for a victory Sunday, but he figures to have some help as well.

All three of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates also reached the final round of qualifying, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. finishing third, Jimmie Johnson coming in fifth and Kasey Kahne registering an 11th-place result.

Junior is especially excited about potentially linking up with Elliott near the front of the field in the Geico 500:

“Chase (Elliott) did a great job. It’s good we are all starting up front so we can work together.” – @DaleJr pic.twitter.com/2KO1dr1BN5

— Hendrick Motorsports (@TeamHendrick) April 30, 2016

Elliott would be in the Chase for the Sprint Cup if the regular season ended today, as he is 11th in the standings by virtue of two top-five finishes and five top-10 results in nine races.

Winning is the only way to guarantee a spot, though, and Elliott enters Sunday as one of the top contenders.

Taking the checkered flag will be a difficult goal, however, as the field is littered with multi-time Talladega winners, including Earnhardt, Johnson, Brad Keselowski, Clint Bowyer and Jamie McMurray.

In addition to that, one big wreck at Talladega can change the entire complexion of the race, and avoiding that takes a mixture of both luck and skill.

Elliott well may occupy victory lane for the first time as a Sprint Cup driver if he is fortunate enough to keep his car out of trouble. He clearly has the equipment needed to win.

He also has a great stable of teammates to work with, but he’ll have to beat them if he wants to secure his spot in the Chase.

Post-Qualifying Reaction

Elliott was dominant in the second round of qualifying Saturday, but Dillon is optimistic about his chances after earning the outside spot in the front row for Sunday’s race, according to NASCAR.com’s Reid Spencer: 

There’s a lot of history here with Dale and [Richard Childress Racing]. A lot of good stuff happened with RCR here, so hopefully we can continue that streak of good runs for RCR here. We’ve got a car capable of doing that, obviously, with the qualifying effort, and I’d love for it to be my first Cup win.

Veteran Matt Kenseth also qualified well with a fourth-place run, but he is well aware that a good or poor qualifying run guarantees nothing at Talladega, per Tom Jensen of FoxSports.com: “We seemed to have pretty good speed. We had good speed, but qualifying doesn’t necessarily mean a lot for the race. These guys have been doing a good job and I qualified well at Daytona and qualified well here, so that was encouraging that they got the speed in the car.”

Kenseth has yet to win a race this season and is barely inside the Chase for the Sprint Cup cutoff in 15th place, so the Geico 500 is as important to him as anyone, especially since it is clear that he has a good enough car to contend.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.