Kyle Busch edges Truex for first pole of 2017 season
There have been times this season when Joe Gibbs Racing has struggled for speed but not on Friday.
Photo by: Lesley Ann Miller / Motorsport Images
Kyle Busch held off a strong challenge from Martin Truex Jr. to win the pole for Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway as Toyotas swept the top four starting positions.
Busch’s average lap speed of 158.954 mph was just enough to top Truex in the third and final round (158.877 mph).
Daniel Suarez qualified third - his best start of the season – while fellow JGR driver Matt Kenseth was fourth. Kyle Larson rounded out the top-five.
Rounding out the top 12 positions: Kurt Busch, Erik Jones, Brad Keselowski, Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
The pole is Busch’s first of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season and 20th of his career.
“It feels good, it feels great to beat (Truex),” Busch said. “Those guys are really on it. Being on the pole here will give us a really good pit (stall) selection and get us some track position right off the bat.
“We’ll work on our Camry tomorrow in practice and make sure we have a good race set-up underneath it.”
Busch called the new aero package’s debut at Dover this weekend “very edgy.”
“It’s a lot slower than it was last year,” he said. “I think it’s almost close to half-a-second or maybe more than that slower than last year. It’s definitely on edge on entry to the corners.”
Round 2
Kyle Busch edged his older brother Kurt to lead the way in the 10-minute second round of qualifying. Kyle’s average lap speed of 159.617 mph was enough to hold off Kurt (159.102 mph).
In all, the top three performers in Round 2 – Stenhouse was third-fastest – cleared the 159 mph barrier when no one did in Round 1.
Jones was fourth-fastest and Truex was fifth.
Also advancing to the final round were Larson, Kenseth, Austin Dillon, Suarez, Hamlin, Keselowski and Earnhardt.
Ryan Newman went out late in the session in an attempt to crack the Top 12 but ended up 13th-fastest.
“We just don’t have enough speed,” he said. “We were good enough to be 13th and we were really close.”
Among those also failing to advance were Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer.
Earnhardt was the only one of the four Hendrick Motorsports drivers to move on to the final round.
Round 1
Larson backed up his performance from practice on Friday and edged Truex for the top average lap speed (158.983 mph) in the first 15-minute knockout session. Truex came in at 158.835 mph.
Kurt Busch posted the third-fastest speed, Suarez fourth and Jamie McMurray was fifth.
Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney both looked like they would fail to advance out of Round 1 but both made late runs in the session and locked in the 14th and 17th position, respectively.
Among those who failed to advance were Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Regan Smith and Danica Patrick.
“We just didn’t have enough speed,” Logano said. “We were loose on the first run and then we over-adjusted and were too tight in the second run.”
It was only the second time this season Logano has failed to advance out of the first round of qualifying.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. felt much more comfortable with his car on Friday and posted the 11th-best speed in the first round.
“I couldn’t turn into Turn 3 because it was going to spin out – at least I thought it was,” Earnhardt said over his team radio.
Unlike last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway, all Cup teams cleared pre-qualifying inspection to take part in the first round.
Cla | # | Driver | Manufacturer | Time | Gap | Mph |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 22.648 | 158.653 | |
2 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 22.659 | 0.011 | 156.713 |
3 | 19 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 22.735 | 0.087 | 158.346 |
4 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Toyota | 22.753 | 0.105 | 156.345 |
5 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 22.759 | 0.111 | 158.179 |
6 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 22.764 | 0.116 | 158.144 |
7 | 77 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 22.831 | 0.183 | 157.680 |
8 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 22.874 | 0.226 | 157.384 |
9 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 22.914 | 0.266 | 156.535 |
10 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 22.925 | 0.277 | 157.034 |
11 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | 23.037 | 0.389 | 156.270 |
12 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 23.077 | 0.429 | 155.999 |
13 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 22.836 | 0.188 | 157.020 |
14 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 22.851 | 0.203 | 157.308 |
15 | 21 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 22.865 | 0.217 | 157.089 |
16 | 24 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 22.881 | 0.233 | 156.747 |
17 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 22.887 | 0.239 | 157.295 |
18 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 22.892 | 0.244 | 157.260 |
19 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 22.907 | 0.259 | 156.678 |
20 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | 22.928 | 0.280 | 156.631 |
21 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 22.968 | 0.320 | 156.740 |
22 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 22.978 | 0.330 | 156.672 |
23 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | 23.011 | 0.363 | 156.447 |
24 | 47 | A.J. Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 23.015 | 0.367 | 156.420 |
25 | 32 | Matt DiBenedetto | Ford | 23.017 | 0.369 | 156.406 |
26 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 23.042 | 0.394 | 156.236 |
27 | 34 | Landon Cassill | Ford | 23.047 | 0.399 | 156.203 |
28 | 95 | Michael McDowell | Chevrolet | 23.067 | 0.419 | 156.067 |
29 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevrolet | 23.120 | 0.472 | 155.709 |
30 | 43 | Regan Smith | Ford | 23.136 | 0.488 | 154.759 |
31 | 10 | Danica Patrick | Ford | 23.162 | 0.514 | 154.566 |
32 | 23 | Gray Gaulding | Toyota | 23.269 | 0.621 | 153.656 |
33 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 23.288 | 0.640 | 154.586 |
34 | 83 | Ryan Sieg | Toyota | 23.514 | 0.866 | 153.100 |
35 | 72 | Cole Whitt | Chevrolet | 23.696 | 1.048 | 151.924 |
36 | 15 | Ross Chastain | Chevrolet | 23.738 | 1.090 | 151.656 |
37 | 66 | Timmy Hill | Chevrolet | 23.864 | 1.216 | 150.855 |
38 | 51 | Cody Ware | Chevrolet | 23.988 | 1.340 | 150.075 |
39 | 33 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Chevrolet | 24.036 | 1.388 | 149.775 |
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