Wild Card Talladega shuffles the Chase deck in qualifying

Credit: Matt Sullivan/NASCAR via Getty Images

Four will be done in 'Dega.
It's time to prepare for glory, or defeat. ~ NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup commercial 

Brian Vickers grabbed the pole for the GEICO 500 at Talladaga Superspeedway Saturday, perhaps as much because of what other drivers didn't do as because of what he did.

"I don't deserve any credit." said Vickers after the final segment. "I just tried not to wreck."

Jimmie Johnson starts second for much the same reason. "I'm not sure what happened there, but it worked out." said Johnson, who's in danger of being eliminated from Chase contention if he doesn't win today's race.

In September, NASCAR announced changes to the qualifying format for Talladega that included a first round divided into two groups by a random draw, with each group getting five minutes on track to make their runs. After a 10-minute break, the 24 drivers with the fastest laps in either round advanced to an intermediate round also five minutes long. From that round 12 advanced to determine their starting positions based on their fastest lap in that five-minute segment.

At the time the changes were announced, Robin Pemberton, NASCAR senior vice president of competition and racing development, said the changes, "Should be more exciting for our fans. It will feature a more accelerated pace, provide greater opportunity for team strategy to come into play and it should more closely resemble actual racing conditions.”

"Strategy" resulted in five Chase contenders relying on owner's points to make the show. For the first time in his Cup career, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. failed to qualify. Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Justin Allgaier also didn't make the race. Joe Nemechek's car failed post-qualifying inspection, so Reed Sorenson got a reprieve and starts in 36th position.

Jeff Gordon qualified 43rd.  Only four times has Gordon earned starting spots of 40th or worse, but for the first time in his career, his lap time put him dead last in the field. The four-time champion made the race by only .127 seconds.

"I just mistimed getting to the line." said Gordon. "The whole group was going so slow I knew I had to have a gap and when I came across the line I thought I had enough (time) to be able to complete that lap and get one more, which was the only way we were going to make it. But we came up short."

Gordon leads active drivers in wins at the 2.66 mile superspeedway with six to Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s five victories.

Tony Stewart had to use a past-champion's provisional to make the field.

On the other side of the equation, the beneficiaries of "strategy" were names not usually seen in at the top of the field in qualifying. AJ Allmendinger and Ryan Blaney, who's running the No. 12 Penske entry, line up on the second row. Michael McDowell qualified sixth, Travis Kvapil seventh, and Michael Annett tenth, while Terry Labonte earned a ninth-place start in his final Cup race.

The Dogecoin-funded entry of Josh Wise also made the field, qualifying 36th.

Matt Kenseth starts in the back because of a precautionary engine change. Also dropping to the back: Brad Keselowski, who may discover just how many enemies he made with his actions last week at Charlotte.

Here are the full qualifying results. Tune in at 2:00 pm ET on ESPN to see whose nation falls the hardest.

Rank	Driver	Time	Speed
1	Brian Vickers	48.825	196.129
2	Jimmie Johnson	48.924	195.732
3	A.J. Allmendinger	48.983	195.496
4	Ryan Blaney	49.357	194.015
5	Brad Keselowski	49.359	194.007
6	Michael McDowell	49.439	193.693
7	Travis Kvapil	49.462	193.603
8	Kasey Kahne	49.489	193.498
9	Terry Labonte	49.506	193.431
10	Michael Annett	49.575	193.162
11	Ryan Newman	50.057	191.302
12	Martin Truex, Jr.	50.141	190.981
13	Matt Kenseth	49.510	193.415
14	Alex Bowman	49.520	193.376
15	Carl Edwards	49.542	193.291
16	Trevor Bayne	49.771	192.401
17	Aric Almirola	49.803	192.278
18	Kurt Busch	49.850	192.096
19	Casey Mears	49.899	191.908
20	Paul Menard	49.934	191.773
21	David Gilliland	50.140	190.985
22	Cole Whitt	50.144	190.970
23	Mike Wallace	51.838	184.729
24	Greg Biffle	49.985	191.577
25	David Ragan	50.026	191.420
26	Marcos Ambrose	50.080	191.214
27	Danica Patrick	50.097	191.149
28	Dale Earnhardt, Jr.	50.101	191.134
29	Landon Cassill	50.102	191.130
30	Austin Dillon	50.129	191.027
31	Jamie McMurray	50.184	190.818
32	J.J. Yeley	50.218	190.689
33	Clint Bowyer	50.220	190.681
34	Michael Waltrip	50.245	190.586
35	Josh Wise	50.266	190.507
36	Reed Sorenson	50.585	189.305
37	Tony Stewart	50.590	189.286	OP
38	Denny Hamlin	50.863	188.270	OP
39	Kevin Harvick	51.110	187.361	OP
40	Joey Logano	53.980	177.399	OP
41	Kyle Busch	54.065	177.120	OP
42	Kyle Larson	54.163	176.800	OP
43	Jeff Gordon	54.245	176.532	OP
44	Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.	54.118	176.947	DNQ
45	Justin Allgaier	54.166	176.790	DNQ
46	Joe Nemechek		.000	DQ