Kevin Harvick cruises to Coca-Cola 600 pole over Kyle Busch

Harvick easily out-dueled Kyle Busch to take the top spot in Sunday night’s 600-mile race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Harvick posted an average lap speed of 193.424 mph in the final, 5-minute round. Busch (192.513 mph) came closer in the second round to catching Harvick then he did in the last.

The pole is Harvick’s 20th of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career, second at Charlotte but first in the 600.

“I felt like I got through (Turns) 1 and 2 pretty good, that’s where I was struggling,” Harvick said. “All in all, our car was fast. It was definitely breathtaking you could say because it was so edgy to drive.

“But they say loose is fast. I’m really proud of my guys. It will be a good start to a long night.”

Chase Elliott was third-fastest, Matt Kenseth fourth and Erik Jones fifth.

Click below to watch Harvick talk about his qualifying run at Charlotte Motor Speedway:

The rest of the Top 12: Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Clint Bowyer, Brad Keselowski and Jamie McMurray.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	1	27.918			193.424
2	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	1	28.050	0.132	0.132	192.513
3	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	1	28.087	0.169	0.037	192.260
4	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	1	28.106	0.188	0.019	192.130
5	77	Erik Jones	Toyota	1	28.157	0.239	0.051	191.782
6	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	1	28.159	0.241	0.002	191.768
7	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	1	28.164	0.246	0.005	191.734
8	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	1	28.236	0.318	0.072	191.245
9	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	1	28.266	0.348	0.030	191.042
10	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	1	28.297	0.379	0.031	190.833
11	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	1	28.346	0.428	0.049	190.503
12	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	1	28.420	0.502	0.074	190.007

Round 2

Harvick led the way in the second round, holding off Kyle Busch with an average lap speed of 193.237 mph).

Elliott was third-fastest, Bowyer was fourth and Truex was fifth.

Also advancing to the final round were Blaney, Kurt Busch, Jones, Kenseth, Keselowski, Hamlin and McMurray.

“We did everything we could there to find grip,” Kurt Busch said after his run.

Among those who failed to advance were: Jimmie Johnson, Daniel Suarez, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Joey Logano, and Kasey Kahne.

Danica Patrick went out late in the session and ended up 15th-fastest, although she appeared to scrub the wall slightly on her run.

“Little tight in (Turns) 1 and 2,” Patrick said over her team radio after her first run in the session.

13	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	1	28.327	0.382	0.032	190.631
14	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	1	28.369	0.424	0.042	190.349
15	10	Danica Patrick	Ford	1	28.380	0.435	0.011	190.275
16	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	1	28.385	0.440	0.005	190.241
17	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	1	28.410	0.465	0.025	190.074
18	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	3	28.419	0.474	0.009	190.014
19	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	3	28.430	0.485	0.011	189.940
20	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	1	28.455	0.510	0.025	189.773
21	95	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	1	28.478	0.533	0.023	189.620
22	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	3	28.479	0.534	0.001	189.613
23	22	Joey Logano	Ford	1	28.501	0.556	0.022	189.467
24	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	1	28.656	0.711	0.155	188.442

Round 1

Despite missing part of the first 20-minute qualifying session because problems passing inspection, Kyle Busch’s one lap on the track was enough to take the stop spot.

His average lap speed of 191.381 mph easily out-paced his teammate, Hamlin (191.008 mph).

Jones was third-fastest, Kenseth fourth and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fifth.

The first round began with at least eight cars still unable to clean pre-qualifying inspection: Kyle Larson, Timmy Hill, Corey LaJoie, Paul Menard, Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch and David Ragan.

Larson, the Cup series points leader, and LaJoie never cleared inspection and will line up 39th and 40th, respectively, in Sunday’s race.

“I guess it will be cooler to win from last than on the pole. It’s on myself for getting in the wall in the practice and making us late getting in (inspection) line,” Larson said. “I don’t know much about how the inspection process works so I don’t say much about it.”

With 10 minutes remaining, only two cars had even posted speeds on the track because of drivers wanting to wait for the cooler temperatures.

Among those who also failed to advance out of Round 1 were Regan Smith, A.J. Allmendinger, Chris Buescher and Ty Dillon.

25	43	Regan Smith	Ford	1	28.676	0.460	0.007	188.311
26	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	1	28.681	0.465	0.005	188.278
27	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	3	28.697	0.481	0.016	188.173
28	38	David Ragan	Ford	1	28.700	0.484	0.003	188.153
29	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	1	28.825	0.609	0.125	187.337
30	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	1	28.891	0.675	0.066	186.909
31	34	Landon Cassill	Ford	3	29.062	0.846	0.171	185.810
32	23	Gray Gaulding	Toyota	3	29.254	1.038	0.192	184.590
33	7	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	1	29.325	1.109	0.071	184.143
34	72	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	3	29.556	1.340	0.231	182.704
35	15	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	1	29.779	1.563	0.223	181.336
36	51	Timmy Hill	Chevrolet	2	30.419	2.203	0.640	177.521
37	55	Derrike Cope	Chevrolet	1	30.513	2.297	0.094	176.974
38	33	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Chevrolet	1	30.602	2.386	0.089	176.459

No time - Kyle Larson and Corey LaJoie