Stenhouse earns Talladega pole over Earnhardt

For Stenhouse Jr., it was just his second-career Cup pole and the first time a Roush Fenway Racing Ford won the pole at Talladega Superspeedway since Mark Martin in 1989.

“It will be nice to lead the field to green,” Stenhouse said. “The Fifth Third guys work really hard on these cars. Jimmy Fennig does a great job on the speedway cars. It’s just cool. Doug Yates (engine builder) builds some awesome horsepower. With his dad, Robert, not doing as well as we would like, I’d like to dedicate this one to him and all the hard work the engine shop does.

“Cool way to start the weekend, we’re ready for Sunday.”

Stenhouse’s lap of 191.547mph knocked Dale Earnhardt Jr. (190.780mph) from the provisional pole. Earnhardt rolls off second — his first front row start at Talladega.

“Thrilled with the car, had good speed,” Earnhardt said. “It would’ve been nice to get a pole. Probably could’ve sat down with Rick (team owner Hendrick) about running the Clash or something. But we’ll see if we can get another one this year.”

Brad Keselowski leapfrogged to the top of the speed chart with a lap of 190.427mph — only to be bumped by Earnhardt. He’ll start third.

Matt Kenseth was the seventh car to take a lap and knocked Kevin Harvick from the provisional pole with a speed of 190.177mph, but ended up fourth.

“This is team qualifying effort, the driver has little to do with it,” Kenseth said.

Trevor Bayne (190.155mph) rounded out the top-five. Harvick’s lap of 190.023mph held up for sixth, followed by rookie Daniel Suarez (190.011mph), Chase Elliott (189.921mph), Paul Menard (189.643mph) Kyle Busch (189.582mph)

Denny Hamlin was the first on the track and posted a speed of189.470mph. Joey Logano set a speed of 189.077mph and will start 12th in Sunday’s Geico 500.

Round 1

The top 16 drivers transferred from the first round.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. bumped Dale Earnhardt Jr. off the top in the first round of qualifying with a lap of 190.833mph (50.180-seconds).

“Let’s just end this right now,” Stenhouse said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a restrictor plate pole at Talladega in Xfinity or Cup.”

Earnhardt Jr., was the first driver to exceed the 190-mile-per-hour-mark, held the position through nine other attempts. He laid down the fast lap (190.400mph, 50.294-seconds) of the first 25 cars.

His Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott, followed but fell one position short (190.196mph). Brad Keselowski, who ran the third fastest speed (190.234mph) bumped Elliott to fourth.

Roush Fenway Racing’s Trevor Bayne was fifth, followed by the Toyotas of Matt Kenseth, rookie Daniel Suarez and Kyle Busch.

Paul Menard, who was ninth, initially knocked Martin Truex Jr. off the provisional pole with a lap of 189.455mph. But his time at the top was short-lived when Earnhardt qualified first. The Fords of Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick, ran 10th and 11th. Denny Hamlin knocked Truex out of the top 12.

Menard’s Richard Childress Racing teammates, Austin Dillon and Ryan Newman, who qualified ahead of the No. 27 Chevy, lined up behind him but ended up 18th and 20th, respectively.

Truex Jr. jumped to the top of the leader board with a lap of 189.350mph (50.573-seconds). Truex was the 19th driver to take a lap when he knocked the Chip Ganassi Racing teammates off the front row.

Kyle Larson, the 10th car to qualify, posted a lap of (50.815-seconds). His Ganassi teammate, Jamie McMurray, who was 16th out on the track, lined up behind Larson on the speed chart. But the Ganassi teammates time on the left side of the chart didn’t last once the Fords took to the track. They dropped to 21st and 23rd, respectively.

Defending NASCAR champion and two-time Talladega winner Jimmie Johnson rolls off 30th on Sunday.

“Looking forward to a lot of fun,” Johnson said. “We’ll go get ‘em.”

For the first time since Daytona, there were more than 40 cars attempting to qualify. D.J. Kennington failed to qualify for the Geico 500.

Stenhouse has witnessed a noticeable difference since Roush Fenway Racing has downsized to a two-car team.

“The culture in our shop is just different,” Stenhouse said. “The guys want to work there. They want to show up to work and work harder. They’re seeing that working harder is producing better results for us.

“It’s been a blast for Trevor and myself to drive these race cars each week. We plan on getting better and bringing better race cars to the track and go out there and lay it all out on the line.”

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Time	Gap	Mph
1	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	49.993		191.547
2	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	50.194	0.201	190.780
3	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	50.287	0.294	190.427
4	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	50.353	0.360	190.177
5	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	50.359	0.366	190.155
6	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	50.394	0.401	190.023
7	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	50.397	0.404	190.011
8	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	50.421	0.428	189.921
9	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	50.495	0.502	189.643
10	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	50.511	0.518	189.582

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