Driving the #16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro, Allmendinger ran a 15.117-second lap (126.930 mph) of the half-mile Bristol Motor Speedway.
He pipped Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney in the #12 Ford Mustang by just 0.003s.
Allmendiner broke his duck dating back to Watkins Glen in 2015 for what was just his fifth pole position in 475 starts.
It’s the first time he’s ever started on the pole at Bristol in his 27 starts.
Asked how he won the pole, Allmendinger replied: “I don’t know I closed my eyes in both of them, so I’m not really sure.
“This place is so tough to qualify, but the first lap she stuck and I thought, I looked down at the dash like, that’s a pretty good lap, so I’m gonna try for more in the second [lap].
“I know it’s just qualifying. We’ve got 500 laps around this place. To get a pole at Bristol, that’s pretty awesome.”
“Every dog has his day. Hopefully we can do that for 500 laps.
“I’m super proud of everyone at Kaulig Racing, all the men and women.
“We’ve been building fast cars all year and this Cup Series is tough, especially when you’re a smaller team trying to grow.
“Little victories like this, even though it’s qualifying, means a lot to us.”
Blaney was the highest-placed driver in the Playoffs in second ahead of Team Penske stablemate Austin Cindric in the #2 Mustang.
Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen had a tough time in qualifying, setting a 15.396s in the #88 Camaro that put him only 28th.
The only Playoffs driver worse than van Gisbergen was Chase Briscoe, who qualified the #19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry in 31st.
Van Gisbergen’s teammate Ross Chastain was 13th in qualifying while Daniel Suarez was 35th.
A total of 39 cars will contest the 500-lap race on Sunday, which begins at 9:30am AEST.
Results: NASCAR Cup Series Food City 400 Qualifying, Bristol Motor Speedway
| Pos | Num | Driver | Team | Speed (mph) | Lap | Diff | Gap |
| 1 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing | 126.93 | 15.117 | ||
| 2 | 12 | Ryan Blaney (P) | Team Penske | 126.905 | 15.12 | 0.003 | 0.003 |
| 3 | 2 | Austin Cindric (P) | Team Penske | 126.804 | 15.132 | 0.015 | 0.012 |
| 4 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Joe Gibbs Racing | 126.72 | 15.142 | 0.025 | 0.010 |
| 5 | 5 | Kyle Larson (P) | Hendrick Motorsports | 126.67 | 15.148 | 0.031 | 0.006 |
| 6 | 11 | Denny Hamlin (P) | Joe Gibbs Racing | 126.312 | 15.191 | 0.074 | 0.043 |
| 7 | 24 | William Byron (P) | Hendrick Motorsports | 126.187 | 15.206 | 0.089 | 0.015 |
| 8 | 23 | Bubba Wallace (P) | 23XI Racing | 126.17 | 15.208 | 0.091 | 0.002 |
| 9 | 20 | Christopher Bell (P) | Joe Gibbs Racing | 126.121 | 15.214 | 0.097 | 0.006 |
| 10 | 21 | Josh Berry (P) | Wood Brothers Racing | 126.121 | 15.214 | 0.097 | 0.000 |
| 11 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Hyak Motorsports | 126.071 | 15.22 | 0.103 | 0.006 |
| 12 | 77 | Carson Hocevar | Spire Motorsports | 126.054 | 15.222 | 0.105 | 0.002 |
| 13 | 1 | Ross Chastain (P) | Trackhouse Racing | 125.914 | 15.239 | 0.122 | 0.017 |
| 14 | 45 | Tyler Reddick (P) | 23XI Racing | 125.856 | 15.246 | 0.129 | 0.007 |
| 15 | 48 | Alex Bowman (P) | Hendrick Motorsports | 125.757 | 15.258 | 0.141 | 0.012 |
| 16 | 9 | Chase Elliott (P) | Hendrick Motorsports | 125.65 | 15.271 | 0.154 | 0.013 |
| 17 | 7 | Justin Haley | Spire Motorsports | 125.642 | 15.272 | 0.155 | 0.001 |
| 18 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | RFK Racing | 125.633 | 15.273 | 0.156 | 0.001 |
| 19 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | Legacy Motor Club | 125.633 | 15.273 | 0.156 | 0.000 |
| 20 | 60 | Ryan Preece | RFK Racing | 125.568 | 15.281 | 0.164 | 0.008 |
| 21 | 17 | Chris Buescher | RFK Racing | 125.494 | 15.29 | 0.173 | 0.009 |
| 22 | 22 | Joey Logano (P) | Team Penske | 125.428 | 15.298 | 0.181 | 0.008 |
| 23 | 3 | Austin Dillon (P) | Richard Childress Racing | 125.15 | 15.332 | 0.215 | 0.034 |
| 24 | 38 | Zane Smith | Front Row Motorsports | 125.052 | 15.344 | 0.227 | 0.012 |
| 25 | 71 | Michael McDowell | Spire Motorsports | 124.914 | 15.361 | 0.244 | 0.017 |
| 26 | 41 | Cole Custer | Haas Factory Team | 124.8 | 15.375 | 0.258 | 0.014 |
| 27 | 43 | Erik Jones | Legacy Motor Club | 124.695 | 15.388 | 0.271 | 0.013 |
| 28 | 88 | Shane Van Gisbergen # (P) | Trackhouse Racing | 124.63 | 15.396 | 0.279 | 0.008 |
| 29 | 35 | Riley Herbst # | 23XI Racing | 124.622 | 15.397 | 0.28 | 0.001 |
| 30 | 4 | Noah Gragson | Front Row Motorsports | 124.581 | 15.402 | 0.285 | 0.005 |
| 31 | 19 | Chase Briscoe (P) | Joe Gibbs Racing | 124.347 | 15.431 | 0.314 | 0.029 |
| 32 | 8 | Kyle Busch | Richard Childress Racing | 124.339 | 15.432 | 0.315 | 0.001 |
| 33 | 33 | Austin Hill(i) | Richard Childress Racing | 123.953 | 15.48 | 0.363 | 0.048 |
| 34 | 51 | Cody Ware | Rick Ware Racing | 123 | 15.6 | 0.483 | 0.120 |
| 35 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Trackhouse Racing | 122.905 | 15.612 | 0.495 | 0.012 |
| 36 | 34 | Todd Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports | 122.756 | 15.631 | 0.514 | 0.019 |
| 37 | 10 | Ty Dillon | Kaulig Racing | 122.552 | 15.657 | 0.540 | 0.026 |
| 38 | 67 | Corey Heim(i) | 23XI Racing | 122.427 | 15.673 | 0.556 | 0.016 |
| 39 | 66 | Chad Finchum | Garage 66 | 119.522 | 16.054 | 0.937 | o0.381 |
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