Kyle Busch takes Kentucky pole in abbreviated qualifying session

Busch set a new track qualifying record in his run during Round 2 of knockout qualifying on Friday, and was awarded the pole when Round 3 was canceled by the arrival of severe weather at Kentucky Speedway.

"Certainly this is worthwhile for our team and everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing. The guys have done an amazing job this year at building faster race cars as we’ve gone on this year, we started out a little behind," Bush said.

"Just right there so close having an opportunity to win each and every week, we just need to bust through and get it to happen. The Snickers car this weekend has been fast and I'm looking forward to taking this Toyota Camry to Victory Lane here in Kentucky.”

Busch’s average lap speed in Round 2 was 190.282 mph, easily surpassing the previous record of 188.791 mph set by Brad Keselowski in 2014.

The pole is Busch’s third this season and third in the last six races and 22nd of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career.

Martin Truex Jr. was start second, Matt Kenseth third, Jamie McMurray fourth and Denny Hamlin fifth.

Completing the top 12: Ryan Blaney, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Daniel Suarez, Keselowski, Joey Logano and Chase Elliott.

Round 2

Kyle Busch upped the ante in the second 10-minute qualifying session posting an average lap speed of 190.282 mph, taking his turn holding the track qualifying record.

Truex ended up second-fastest, Kenseth third, McMurray fourth and Hamlin fifth.

Also advancing to the final round were Blaney, Harvick, Johnson, Suarez, Keselowski, Logano and Elliott.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. made two runs during the session and cracked the top 12 both times, only to get bumped out, the last time by Keselowski. Earnhardt will start the race in 13th.

Also failing to advance to the final round were Kurt Busch, Darrell Wallace Jr., Clint Bowyer, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Danica Patrick and Kasey Kahne.

“We went out a little bit too late in that second round and we didn’t have enough time to come back in, cool off and get another run,” said Wallace, who will start 17th.

Wallace has been substituting for Aric Almirola, who fractured a vertebra in his back at Kansas. Almirola was on hand at the track on Friday.

Round 1

Elliott set a blistering pace in the first 20-minute qualifying session, becoming the first to break the previous track qualifying record with an average lap speed of 189.434 mph.

Kenseth ended up second-fastest after making a second attempt late in the session. Kahne was third, Johnson fourth and Logano fifth.

More teams than usual

The first round began with the cars of five drivers – Harvick, Michael McDowell, Matt DiBenidetto, Kyle Larson and Jones – still having not cleared pre-qualifying inspection.

Larson’s No. 42 Chevrolet ended up being the only car unable to pass pre-qualifying inspection and will start 40th in Saturday night’s race.

“Obviously, I would have liked to go out and qualify because I think we had a shot at the pole,” Larson said. “We’ll be fine from the back. We went through a similar issue at Texas and did OK (he finished second).”

Among those failing to advance out of the first round were Austin Dillon, A.J. Allmendinger, Ryan Newman and Ty Dillon.

la	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Time	Gap	Mph
1	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	28.379		190.282
2	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	28.392	0.013	190.194
3	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	28.460	0.081	189.740
4	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	28.464	0.085	189.713
5	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	28.468	0.089	189.687
6	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	28.487	0.108	189.560
7	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	28.488	0.109	189.553
8	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	28.523	0.144	189.321
9	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	28.528	0.149	189.288
10	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	28.539	0.160	189.215
11	22	Joey Logano	Ford	28.555	0.176	189.109
12	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	28.595	0.216	188.278
13	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	28.606	0.227	188.772
14	77	Erik Jones	Toyota	28.609	0.230	188.752
15	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	28.619	0.240	188.686
16	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	28.634	0.255	188.587
17	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Ford	28.656	0.277	188.442
18	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	28.676	0.297	188.311
19	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	28.676	0.297	187.990
20	10	Danica Patrick	Ford	28.797	0.418	187.520
21	95	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	28.991	0.612	186.265
22	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	29.002	0.623	186.194
23	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	29.013	0.634	186.123
24	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	29.048	0.669	185.899
25	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	29.101	0.722	19.584
26	38	David Ragan	Ford	29.129	0.750	185.382
27	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	29.221	0.842	184.799
28	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	29.228	0.849	184.754
29	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	29.247	0.868	184.634
30	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	29.367	0.988	183.880
31	83	Ryan Sieg	Toyota	29.728	1.349	181.647
32	72	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	29.790	1.411	181.269
33	15	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	29.921	1.542	180.475
34	23	Joey Gase	Toyota	30.063	1.684	179.623
35	34	Landon Cassill	Ford	30.193	1.814	178.849
36	33	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Chevrolet	30.338	1.959	177.995
37	51	B.J. McLeod	Chevrolet	30.490	2.111	176.028
38	66	Timmy Hill	Chevrolet	30.544	2.165	176.436
39	55	Gray Gaulding	Toyota	30.603	2.224	176.453
40	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	0.000		0.000