Qualifying report
NASCAR Cup Charlotte II
Kurt Busch edges Allmendinger for inaugural pole at Charlotte Roval
Kush Busch’s patience paid off with the pole for Sunday’s inaugural race on the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval course.
Jim Utter
Edited: Sep 28, 2018, 9:43 PM
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Busch waited for several minutes Friday as clouds began to cover the Roval in the final 10-minute session of knockout qualifying to make his final attempt.
It paid off handsomely and Busch’s average lap speed of 106.868 mph just edged A.J. Allmendinger (106.811 mph), giving him the pole for Sunday’s Bank of America 400.
Sunday’s race will be the first on the speedway’s 2.28-mile, 17-turn Roval course.
“It’s pretty special. Any inaugural event is fun to go to,” Busch said. “You try to learn as much as you can through testing and simulator work and watching others.
“We had plan going in. I’m really proud of (crew chief) Billy Scott and everyone on the No. 41 car coming into a unique situation like this. There is nothing ordinary about this. I’ve just tried to have fun with it.
“We have to go to work on race trim now. We have to make sure we set up our tires right for the long run.”
The pole is Busch’s fourth of the season and 26th of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career.
“This race is going to be all about minimizing mistakes,” Allmendinger said. “Starting on the front row is a big deal here. Hell, I don’t have a job, might as well steal the win.”
Alex Bowman was third-fastest, Chase Elliott fourth and Kyle Larson completed the top-five.
Rounding out the Top 12 were Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Daniel Hemric and Erik Jones.
Round 1
Allmendinger led the way through the eventful first round, with an average lap speed of 106.658 mph.
Hemric was a surprising second-fastest (106.423 mph) and Bowman was third (106.418 mph). Elliott was fourth and Buescher completed the top-five.
Also advancing to the final round were Johnson, Larson, Bowyer, McMurray, Kurt Busch, Jones and Blaney.
Early in the session, Denny Hamlin got loose going through the backstretch chicane and slammed into the oval Turn 3 wall, doing extensive damage to his No. 11 Toyota.
Hamlin’s team was able to make repairs he got back out on the track and register a qualifying lap and ended up 27th. Jones also caught the tire barrier exiting the backstretch chicane and damaged his No. 20 Toyota.
Darrell Wallace Jr. spun early in the session – the fourth time he’s spun out on the track Friday, but as he did in the rest, he was able to continue on.
Among those who failed to advance to the final round were Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Aric Almirola, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Newman.
Kyle Busch went out late in the session in an attempt to crack the Top 12 but on his first lap he cut through the frontstretch chicane and his lap was disallowed. He failed to serve a pass-thru penalty on pit road on the ensuing lap, so that one was disallowed as well.
“This is junk,” Busch said over his radio while working his final attempt.
Cla # Driver 4506 Time Gap Mph 1 41 
Kurt Busch Ford 1'16.805 106.868 2 47 
A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 1'16.846 0.041 106.811 3 88 
Alex Bowman Chevrolet 1'16.854 0.049 106.800 4 9 
Chase Elliott Chevrolet 1'17.001 0.196 106.596 5 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 1'17.017 0.212 106.574 6 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 1'17.098 0.293 106.462 7 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 1'17.192 0.387 106.332 8 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 1'17.358 0.553 106.104 9 12 
Ryan Blaney Ford 1'17.493 0.688 105.919 10 37 
Chris Buescher Chevrolet 1'17.760 0.955 105.556 11 8 Daniel Hemric Chevrolet 1'17.796 0.991 105.507 12 20 Erik Jones Toyota 1'17.868 1.063 105.409 13 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 1'17.390 0.585 106.060 14 18 
Kyle Busch Toyota 1'17.575 0.770 105.807 15 22 Joey Logano Ford 1'17.589 0.784 105.788 16 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 1'17.618 0.813 105.749 17 19 
Daniel Suarez Toyota 1'17.663 0.858 105.687 18 34 Michael McDowell Ford 1'17.668 0.863 105.681 19 4 
Kevin Harvick Ford 1'17.947 1.142 105.302 20 10 Aric Almirola Ford 1'18.031 1.226 105.189 21 24 
William Byron Chevrolet 1'18.082 1.277 105.120 22 21 Paul Menard Ford 1'18.101 1.296 105.095 23 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 1'18.258 1.453 104.884 24 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 1'18.389 1.584 104.709 25 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 1'18.435 1.630 104.647 26 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 1'18.455 1.650 104.620 27 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 1'18.561 1.756 104.479 28 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 1'18.657 1.852 104.352 29 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 1'18.665 1.860 104.341 30 38 David Ragan Ford 1'18.898 2.093 104.033 31 15 Justin Marks Chevrolet 1'18.972 2.167 103.936 32 95 Regan Smith Chevrolet 1'19.267 2.462 103.549 33 72 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 1'19.489 2.684 103.260 34 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 1'19.910 3.105 102.716 35 7 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 1'19.940 3.135 102.677 36 23 J.J. Yeley Toyota 1'20.444 3.639 102.034 37 96 Jeffrey Earnhardt Toyota 1'20.510 3.705 101.950 38 00 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 1'21.196 4.391 101.089 39 51 Stanton Barrett Ford 1'21.871 5.066 100.255 40 66 Timmy Hill Toyota 1'22.022 5.217 100.071
Take a virtual lap around the Charlotte Roval with the No. 78 Toyota Camry of Martin Truex Jr., courtesy of NASCAR Heat 3, which you can order now:
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