Braun lapped the 2.66-mile superspeedway at 179.608 m.p.h. (53.316 seconds) in his No.6 Ford. He also won the pole for the series' first superspeedway race this season at Daytona.

Austin Dillon, the grandson of NASCAR team owner Richard Childress, originally qualified for the race, but had his time disallowed after his truck did not meet the minimum height requirement during post-qualifying inspection. Dillon failed to make the 36-truck field since he was one of those drivers required to qualify on time.

Terry Cook will start alongside Braun after posting a lap at 178.188 m.p.h.

Max Papis qualified a career-best third, while Jason White and Aric Almirola rounded out the top-five.

Sixth through 10th were: Todd Bodine, Matt Crafton, Tayler Malsam, Stacy Compton and Kyle Busch. Bodine will attempt to win his fifth consecutive superspeedway race. He has won the last two races at both Daytona and Talladega.

Points leader Ron Hornaday Jr. qualified 13th. Hornaday holds a comfortable 224-point lead with four races to go.

For the first time in NASCAR, a father and daughter will compete in a national touring series race. Mike Wallace will start 33rd, while his 21-year-old daughter, Chrissy, will roll off 27th.

Mike Harmon also failed to qualify.

Saturday's 250-mile race is scheduled to begin around 4:00 p.m. (et).