Vickers wins pole for 'Dega Cup race after bizarre qualifying session

Brian Vickers captured the pole in Saturday evening’s Sprint Cup Series qualifying session at Talladega Superspeedway.

The bigger story of the event was the debut of the new qualifying format that NASCAR introduced for superspeedway tracks. Drivers and crew chiefs alike were extremely upset with the new rules, specifically splitting the field into two groups in the first round.

“This is the stupidest thing I've ever seen," Kevin Harvick said of the new format. Other drivers voiced their opinions on Twitter:

When each group’s five-minute round began, most cars elected to stay on pit road until the last minute, then headed out onto the track for a one and done lap. This didn’t go as planned, as cars were either left hanging from the draft, or couldn’t get their cars up to speed.

Because of this, some big names finished at the back of the field, and three drivers failed to qualify for the race: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Justin Allgaier, and Joe Nemechek.

Here's your starting order for Sunday:

# = rookie, (i) = not eligible for points