NASCAR at Talladega 2018 Qualifying Results: Kevin Harvick Wins Pole Position

The starting grid for Sunday's NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway is set, with Kevin Harvick capturing the pole during qualifying. 

Harvick took the top spot with a time of 49.247 seconds around the track, less than one-tenth of a second ahead of Kurt Busch (49.34). The No. 4 car also had a top lap speed of 194.448 mph to earn his first pole of the season. 

Here's the full order for the Geico 500, via NASCAR.com:

Row 1: Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch

Row 2: Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin

Row 3: Chase Elliott, Erik Jones

Row 4: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Clint Bowyer

Row 5: Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski

Row 6: Alex Bowman, David Ragan

Row 7: Paul Menard, Daniel Suarez

Row 8: Darrell Wallace Jr., Jimmie Johnson

Row 9: William Byron, Ryan Newman

Row 10: Kyle Busch, Michael McDowell

Row 11: Trevor Bayne, Kyle Larson

Row 12: Ryan Blaney, Austin Dillon

Row 13: Chris Buescher, Kasey Kahne

Row 14: Jamie McMurray, AJ Allmendinger

Row 15: Ty Dillon, Brendan Gaughan

Row 16: D.J. Kennington, Timothy Peters

Row 17: Matt DiBenedetto, Joey Gase

Row 18: Ross Chastain, Cole Whitt

Row 19: Gray Gaulding, Reed Sorenson

Row 20: Timmy Hill, Aric Almirola

Early results from the track at Talladega this weekend haven't been kind to drivers. McMurray took part in qualifying following a crash during practice on Friday in which his car flipped seven times:

While there wasn't an incident like that in qualifying, action was delayed when sparks started flying from underneath Almirola's car before he spun out:

Per ESPN's Bob Pockrass, following McMurray's crash, NASCAR announced a rule change to reduce the size of the holes in the restrictor plates from 56/64 of an inch to 55/64 of an inch, likely resulting in a small mile-per-hour reduction for the cars. 

That proved to be true during qualifying, with Pockrass noting McMurray's car was going 203.975 mph at the time of the crash on Friday. Harvick's best speed on the final round Saturday was nearly 10 full miles per hour slower than that. 

Kyle Busch had a disappointing qualifying run. He will start from the 10th row, next to Michael McDowell, after finishing 19th. The 2015 NASCAR champion is riding a stretch of seven straight races finishing in the top three, including three consecutive wins. 

Defending race winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has a favorable starting spot inside the fourth row. He's struggled to find any consistency so far this season with one top-10 finish in nine races, so getting back to the site of his last win could be the momentum swing he needs. 

The Geico 500 will begin on Sunday from Alabama's Talladega Superspeedway at 2 p.m. ET.