Austin Dillon Wins All Star Showdown Pole

Rookie Austin Dillon will start in the pole for tonight’s NASCAR Sprint All Star Showdown, after claiming the top spot with a fast lap in 27.747 seconds, at an average speed of 194.615 mph.

Dillon won the pole in his first attempt as a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver. The last driver to win the pole in his first try was Carl Edwards in 2007. AJ Allmendinger will start on the outside of Row One in tonight’s race, followed by rookie Kyle Larson, Clint Bowyer and Marcos Ambrose. Paul Menard, Danica Patrick, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Casey Mears and Aric Almirola completed the Top-10 qualifiers.

Dillon is one of seven drivers making their first career All-Star appearances, joining Larson, Michael Annett, Alex Bowman, Cole Whitt, Blake Koch and Ryan Truex.

The first and second-place finishers will advance to tomorrow night’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.

Unofficial Starting Line-Up

Start         #              Driver

1                3              Austin Dillon #

2               47             A. J. Allmendinger

3               42             Kyle Larson #

4               15             Clint Bowyer

5                 9             Marcos Ambrose

6               27             Paul Menard

7                10            Danica Patrick

8               17             Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

9               13             Casey Mears

10             43             Aric Almirola

11             26             Cole Whitt #

12             44             J. J. Yeley

13             23             Alex Bowman #

14             77             Dave Blaney

15             38             David Gilliland

16             98             Josh Wise

17             7               Michael Annett #

18             40             Landon Cassill

19             83             Ryan Truex #

20            36              Reed Sorenson

21             66             Joe Nemechek

22            32              Blake Koch

23             33             David Stremme