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Talladega, Ala. • A group decision for all of the cars powered by Earnhardt Childress engines to work together at Talladega Superspeedway proved the correct call in NASCAR's new knockout qualifying format.

Richard Childress Racing drivers and their affiliates swept the first three rows on the starting grid for Sunday's race, with the pole going to Brian Scott, who will lead the field to the green flag in just his fifth career Sprint Cup Series start.

"Who would have thought that, huh?" Scott asked after Saturday's qualifying session.

Cars with ECR engines took six of the 12 spots in the third and final round of knockout qualifying, and they all waited patiently on pit road for someone to make a move. It came with roughly 2 minutes, 20 seconds remaining in the 5-minute session, when all 12 drivers made their way onto the track.

Tony Stewart posted the fastest lap as he worked with the other three Stewart-Haas Racing drivers, and as the clock neared the final buzzer, it appeared the three-time NASCAR champion had the pole locked up.

Then came the ECR pack of cars, with Ryan Newman leading, Scott somewhere in the middle and Paul Menard bringing up the rear. Team owner Childress had designated Newman as the driver to decide when the pack should go, and Menard was charged with pushing them along.

Just as time expired, the entire group shot past Stewart's speed and moved to the top of the leaderboard.

It was Scott on the pole, followed by Menard and then AJ Allmendinger, an RCR-affiliated driver.

Casey Mears, also an affiliated driver, qualified fourth and was followed by Daytona 500 pole-sitter Austin Dillon and Newman.

"It was just a great plan by RCR, getting all the RCR alliance cars working together," Allmendinger said. "We worked on that [in practice] and felt like we all had great speed."

It was the first time NASCAR has used its new knockout format on a restrictor-plate track in the Sprint Cup Series.

Stewart wound up 12th in the final session.

Now Scott gets to show what he's made of on one of NASCAR's fastest tracks. A Nationwide Series regular, he's got three previous starts this season and finished 25th in the Daytona 500.

Nationwide Series

Elliott Sadler won a three-lap shootout to the checkered flag in the Nationwide Series race for his first career win at Talladega Superspeedway. Chris Buescher finished second; Regan Smith was third. —

Aaron's 499

P Sunday, 11 a.m.

TV • Ch. 13 —

Lineup

Saturday qualifying

At Talladega Superspeedway, Talladega, Ala.

Lap length: 2.66 miles

(Car number in parentheses)

1. (33) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 198.29.

2. (27) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 197.888.

3. (47) A J Allminger, Chevrolet, 197.704.

4. (13) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 197.37.

5. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 197.362.

6. (31) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 197.297.

7. (10) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 194.995.

8. (4) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 194.393.

9. (41) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 193.619.

10. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford, 193.615.

11. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 193.486.

12. (14) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 188.958.

13. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 194.963.

14. (95) Michael McDowell, Ford, 194.959.

15. (43) Aric Almirola, Ford, 194.911.

16. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 194.88.

17. (7) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 194.098.

18. (55) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 194.035.

19. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 193.541.

20. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 193.478.

21. (20) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 193.458.

22. (36) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 190.89.

23. (21) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 190.575.

24. (83) Ryan Truex, Toyota, 197.913.

25. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 197.908.

26. (9) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 197.835.

27. (15) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 197.806.

28. (66) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 197.806.

29. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 197.77.

30. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 197.765.

31. (26) Cole Whitt, Toyota, 197.721.

32. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 197.443.

33. (23) Alex Bowman, Toyota, 197.403.

34. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 197.378.

35. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 197.244.

36. (98) Josh Wise, Ford, 197.029.

37. (32) Terry Labonte, Ford, Owner Points.

38. (51) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, Owner Points.

39. (34) David Ragan, Ford, Owner Points.

40. (38) David Gilliland, Ford, Owner Points.

41. (40) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, Owner Points.

42. (5) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, Owner Points.

43. (78) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, Owner Points.

Failed to Qualify

44. (77) Dave Blaney, Ford, 195.56.

45. (87) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, 194.551.

46. (35) Eric McClure, Ford, 194.366.

47. (44) J.J. Yeley, Chevrolet, 192.154.