Talladega NASCAR: Rookie Childress protege Brian Scott on pole

With drafting being critical to pace at the large superspeedway, all three qualifying segments featured big packs of cars trying to work together.

The five-minute pole shootout was almost a non-event as the 12 participants all sat in the pits until there were just two minutes to go, with no one willing to take the slowest spot at the head of the train.

Richard Childress protege Scott played things best and emerged on pole for Circle Sport, in only his fifth Cup event, having also topped the second part of qualifying.

Fellow Childress man Paul Menard joins him on the front row. JTG Daugherty's AJ Allmendinger and Germain driver Casey Mears share row two.

The Chevrolet teams proved most adept at the format, with 11 of the 12 round three contenders driving for the marque. Stewart-Haas and Childress both got all their cars into the final part.

Roush Fenway's Carl Edwards was the sole Ford interloper in 10th.

The leading Toyota was Michael Waltrip Racing's Brian Vickers back in 19th.

Joey Logano's run of reaching the final part of qualifying at every race since the new format was introduced ended as he was eliminated in round two and left in 16th on the grid.

Dale Earnhardt Jr, winner of the previous 'plate track' Cup round at Daytona in February, was among those who did not even get past the opening segment, qualifying 31st.

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                 Time     Gap
 1.  Brian Scott         Circle Sport Chevrolet   48.293s
 2.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet      48.391s  +0.098s
 3.  AJ Allmendinger     JTG Daugherty Chevrolet  48.436s  +0.143s
 4.  Casey Mears         Germain Chevrolet        48.518s  +0.225s
 5.  Austin Dillon       Childress Chevrolet      48.520s  +0.227s
 6.  Ryan Newman         Childress Chevrolet      48.536s  +0.243s
 7.  Danica Patrick      Stewart-Haas Chevrolet   49.109s  +0.816s
 8.  Kevin Harvick       Stewart-Haas Chevrolet   49.261s  +0.968s
 9.  Kurt Busch          Stewart-Haas Chevrolet   49.458s  +1.165s
10.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford        49.459s  +1.166s
11.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet       49.492s  +1.199s
12.  Tony Stewart        Stewart-Haas Chevrolet   50.678s  +2.385s
13.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Ford              49.117s  Round 2
14.  Michael McDowell    Leavine Ford             49.118s  Round 2
15.  Aric Almirola       Petty Ford               49.130s  Round 2
16.  Joey Logano         Penske Ford              49.138s  Round 2
17.  Kasey Kahne         Hendrick Chevrolet       49.138s  Round 2
18.  Michael Annett      Baldwin Chevrolet        49.336s  Round 2
19.  Brian Vickers       Waltrip Toyota           49.352s  Round 2
20.  Kyle Busch          Joe Gibbs Toyota         49.478s  Round 2
21.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet       49.494s  Round 2
22.  Matt Kenseth        Joe Gibbs Toyota         49.499s  Round 2
23.  Reed Sorenson       Baldwin Chevrolet        50.165s  Round 2
24.  Trevor Bayne        Wood Brothers Ford       50.248s  Round 2
25.  Ryan Truex          BK Toyota                48.385s  Round 1
26.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr  Roush Fenway Ford        48.386s  Round 1
27.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford               48.404s  Round 1
28.  Michael Waltrip     Waltrip Toyota           48.411s  Round 1
29.  Clint Bowyer        Waltrip Toyota           48.411s  Round 1
30.  Kyle Larson         Ganassi Chevrolet        48.420s  Round 1
31.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet       48.421s  Round 1
32.  Cole Whitt          BK Toyota                48.432s  Round 1
33.  Jamie McMurray      Ganassi Chevrolet        48.500s  Round 1
34.  Alex Bowman         BK Toyota                48.510s  Round 1
35.  Denny Hamlin        Joe Gibbs Toyota         48.516s  Round 1
36.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford        48.549s  Round 1
37.  Josh Wise           Parsons Chevrolet        48.602s  Round 1
38.  Martin Truex Jr     Furniture Row Chevrolet  48.661s  Round 1
39.  Terry Labonte       Go FAS Ford              48.672s  Round 1
40.  Justin Allgaier     HScott Chevrolet         48.800s  Round 1
41.  David Ragan         Front Row Ford           48.924s  Round 1
42.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford           49.138s  Round 1
43.  Landon Cassill      Hillman Chevrolet        49.262s  Round 1

Did not qualify:

     Dave Blaney         Humphrey Smith Toyota    48.967s  Round 1
     Joe Nemechek        Robinson Toyota          49.221s  Round 1
     Eric McClure        Front Row Ford           49.268s  Round 1
     JJ Yeley            Xxxtreme Toyota          49.835s  Round 1