Michael McDowell will lead the field to the green flag Sunday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway (2 p.m. ET on NBC).
The Front Row Motorsports driver won the pole with a lap of 52.31 seconds. This is his sixth pole of the season, which is the most in the Cup Series. McDowell also won the pole at Talladega in the spring.
Austin Cindric (playoffs) qualified second with a lap of 52.493 seconds. He was just ahead of Todd Gilliland at 52.541 seconds, Kyle Busch at 52.655 seconds, and Ryan Blaney (playoffs) at 52.678 seconds.
MORE: McDowell wins pole, full Talladega lineup
Joey Logano (playoffs) qualified sixth with a lap of 52.706 seconds. He was followed by Austin Dillon at 52.741 seconds, Denny Hamlin (playoffs) at 52.774 seconds, Harrison Burton at 52.895 seconds, and Daniel Hemric at 52.912 seconds.
Only four of the 12 playoff drivers reached the second round of qualifying. The rest will start Sunday's race in the middle of the pack.
Chase Elliott was the best of this group as he qualified 11th with a lap of 52.812 seconds. Kyle Larson qualified 12th with a lap of 52.821 seconds.
Tyler Reddick in 14th (52.841 seconds) and William Byron in 16th (52.904 seconds) were the two other playoff drivers who qualified inside the top 20.
Christopher Bell qualified 21st (53.007 seconds), Alex Bowman qualified 23rd (53.012 seconds), Daniel Suarez qualified 31st (53.263 seconds), and Chase Briscoe qualified 36th (53.498 seconds).
Drivers such as Suarez and Briscoe will have to make moves early using the pack. They both are below the Round of 8 cutline. Suarez is 14 points below while Briscoe is 25 points below. To gain ground on other drivers, they have to push for stage points.
This track position also matters considering that Cindric starts on the front row. The Team Penske driver is last in the playoff standings at 29 points below the cutline. He will start the race in the best position to pass other drivers.
Coverage for Sunday's Cup Series playoff race at Talladega begins at 1:30 p.m. ET with "Countdown to Green" on NBC. Race coverage continues at 2 p.m. ET on NBC. The green flag will wave at 2:33 p.m. ET.