Kyle Busch beats Truex for Pocono pole
Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr., will line up on the front row for the Overton’s 400 — setting up for a potential rematch of last Sunday's battle at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Polesitter Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Lesley Ann Miller / Motorsport Images
For Busch, it was his fifth pole of 2017 and his fourth pole at Pocono Raceway.
Busch was the ninth driver to take a lap and bumped Jamie McMurray from the top with a lap of 179.372mph on Sunday.
“Great work guys, you cut it a little close that first round,” Adam Stevens told his driver.
“Just how I planned it,” Busch replied. “Nice job.”
With three seconds remaining on the clock, Truex posted a lap of 178.866mph just short of Busch’s time. Although Truex took out his fellow Toyota driver last weekend setting up a rivalry between the squad, the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing car is looking at putting the incident behind him.
“I look forward to racing clean with them today and battling them for the win,” Truex said.
McMurray will start third followed by Denny Hamlin, June winner Ryan Blaney, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Kasey Kahne.
“18 is getting ready to kick our ass, but nice job,” the No. 1 team told McMurray after he captured the provisional pole.
Round 2
Denny Hamlin was the second driver out for the second round and his lap of 177.845mph held on for the top speed of the 12 cars transferring to the final trial.
Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez, Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano, Kasey Kahne, Erik Jones and Brad Keselowski all advanced.
Logano was the first car on the track for the second round followed by Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Matt Kenseth, Michael McDowell, Ryan Newman, Blaney, Kahne, Keselowski and Kyle Larson.
With seven minutes to go, Harvick, Suarez and Boywer established times. Two minutes later, Truex, Kyle Busch, McMurray and Trevor Bayne posted
“It’s a great effort,” said McDowell, who ended up 17th. “We qualified really well.”
Round 1
Martin Truex Jr. got a late start to the first round of qualifying but his lap of 176.915mph topped the speed chart.
Daniel Suarez, Ryan Blaney, Jamie McMurray, Erik Jones, Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman rounded out the top 12.
Blaney was the fourth driver on the track — and moved to the top of the board with a lap of 176.512mph. In the first five minutes, Blaney remained on top followed by Kahne, Keselowski, Michael McDowell, Paul Menard, Trevor Bayne, Austin Dillon and Aric Almirola.
Just before the 10-minute mark, Suarez bumped Blaney for first with a lap of 176.651mph. McMurray was third followed by Larson, Kahne, Keselowski, Hamlin, Harvick, Newman, Clint Bowyer Bowyer, Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano.
“I messed up a little in the tunnel turn so I wasn’t wide open on the exit,” said Kahne, the best of the Hendrick Motorsports cars in the first round.
Truex was the 33rd driver on the track and made his first lap with six minutes remaining in Round 1 and vaulted to the top.
With three minutes to go, Chris Buescher, who was delayed coming out of inspection completed his warm up lap. He ended up 23rd. Aric Almirola made a second attempt and knocked Austin Dillon out of the top 24 — but it was short-lived. Dillon returned to the track and posted the 22nd-fastest lap and bumped Almirola to 25th. Dillon was knocked out as was Paul Menard returned to the track for a second attempt. Dale Earnhardt Jr.,completed his second lap with 34-seconds on the clock. Earnhardt ran 24th and was quickly bumped. He took an insurance lap and ended up 21st.
“I can’t touch the brake, I’m so loose,” Earnhardt said.
Cla | # | Driver | Manufacturer | Time | Gap | Mph |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 50.175 | 179.372 | |
2 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 50.317 | 0.142 | 178.866 |
3 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 50.552 | 0.377 | 178.034 |
4 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 50.635 | 0.460 | 177.743 |
5 | 21 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 50.682 | 0.507 | 177.578 |
6 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 50.708 | 0.533 | 177.487 |
7 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 50.801 | 0.626 | 177.162 |
8 | 19 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 50.844 | 0.669 | 177.012 |
9 | 77 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 50.869 | 0.694 | 176.925 |
10 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 50.986 | 0.811 | 176.519 |
11 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 51.046 | 0.871 | 176.312 |
12 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | 51.206 | 1.031 | 175.761 |
13 | 24 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 51.116 | 0.941 | 176.070 |
14 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 51.167 | 0.992 | 175.895 |
15 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Toyota | 51.236 | 1.061 | 175.658 |
16 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 51.296 | 1.121 | 25.872 |
17 | 95 | Michael McDowell | Chevrolet | 51.356 | 1.181 | 175.247 |
18 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 51.375 | 1.200 | 175.182 |
19 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 51.446 | 1.271 | 174.941 |
20 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 51.576 | 1.401 | 174.500 |
21 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 51.576 | 1.401 | 174.500 |
22 | 10 | Danica Patrick | Ford | 51.577 | 1.402 | 174.496 |
23 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | 51.684 | 1.509 | 174.135 |
24 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevrolet | 52.108 | 1.933 | 172.718 |
25 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 51.563 | 1.388 | 174.544 |
26 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 51.567 | 1.392 | 174.530 |
27 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | 51.615 | 1.440 | 172.728 |
28 | 47 | A.J. Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 51.906 | 1.731 | 173.390 |
29 | 32 | Matt DiBenedetto | Ford | 52.056 | 1.881 | 172.891 |
30 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 52.098 | 1.923 | 172.751 |
31 | 34 | Landon Cassill | Ford | 52.435 | 2.260 | 171.641 |
32 | 72 | Cole Whitt | Chevrolet | 52.450 | 2.275 | 171.592 |
33 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 52.507 | 2.332 | 171.406 |
34 | 23 | Corey Lajoie | Toyota | 52.581 | 2.406 | 171.164 |
35 | 15 | Gray Gaulding | Chevrolet | 53.228 | 3.053 | 169.084 |
36 | 83 | Stephen Leicht | Toyota | 55.445 | 5.270 | 162.323 |
37 | 55 | Derrike Cope | Toyota | 57.440 | 7.265 | 156.685 |
38 | 33 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 |
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