HAMPTON, Ga. -- Michael McDowell will lead the Cup Series field to the green flag for Sunday afternoon's Quaker State 400 (3 p.m. ET on USA Network).
The Front Row Motorsports driver won the pole with a lap of 179.267 mph. This is his fifth pole of the season and his second at Atlanta Motor Speedway. McDowell now ties Kyle Larson for the most pole wins in the Cup Series this season.
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Ryan Blaney qualified second with a lap of 178.844 mph. The Ford Performance qualifying efforts continued with Todd Gilliland (178.770 mph), Josh Berry (178.453 mph), and Austin Cindric (178.430 mph).
Larson (178.367 mph), Joey Logano (178.361 mph), Austin Dillon (178.155 mph), William Byron (178.098 mph), and Chase Briscoe (178.086 mph) all secured starting positions inside the top 10.
Denny Hamlin qualified the worst among the playoff drivers due to an unexpected issue. He had the 38th-fastest time at 167.670 mph, more than two mph slower than JJ Yeley in 37th.
"Something in the powertrain, certainly, was not up to speed," Hamlin told media members after qualifying. "So they're going to look into it and then hopefully come up with the fix.
"But certainly, there's something wrong there that they'll get fixed overnight."
Hamlin was not the only playoff driver to miss the top 10 during Saturday's qualifying session at the 1.540-mile track. Eight others will line up outside of the first five rows.
Alex Bowman qualified 11th, Harrison Burton qualified 12th, Chase Elliott qualified 16th, Brad Keselowski qualified 19th, Martin Truex Jr. qualified 22nd, Tyler Reddick qualified 23rd, Christopher Bell qualified 26th, and Daniel Suarez qualified 30th.
USA Network will provide coverage for Sunday afternoon's playoff opener, starting with "Countdown to Green" at 2:30 p.m. ET. Grand Marshal Bobby Labonte will give the command to fire engines at 3 p.m. ET. The green flag will wave at 3:11 p.m. ET.