Kurt Busch wins NASCAR pole in New Hampshire

Kurt Busch on pole

Kurt Busch won the Busch Pole Award for the third time this season in Friday afternoon’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Busch circled the 1.058-mile track with a final-round speed of 133.591 mph in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Ford. He’ll start first in Sunday’s Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM) after posting the 25th pole position of his Monster Energy Series career and his first at New Hampshire.

Martin Truex Jr., last weekend’s winner at Kentucky Speedway, will start alongside Busch in the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota after locking down the second-fastest lap (133.502 mph) in qualifying.

Kyle Busch was fastest in the two earlier rounds of the three-round knockout qualifying session, but will start third in Sunday’s 301-lapper in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota. His teammate, Denny Hamlin, took fourth in qualifying with Ryan Blaney completing the top five.

Kyle Busch, who was also fastest in the series’ lone practice Friday, topped the opening 15-minute round of qualifying with a best lap of 133.114 mph. Chris Buescher grabbed the 24th and final spot to advance to Round 2, edging out Ty Dillon by .007 seconds.

The younger Busch picked up his speed in Round 2, leading the way with a 133.656 mph speed. There was another close contest for the final transfer spot, with Paul Menard clipping Aric Almirola by a .006-second margin to reach the final 12.

Quotes

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 78 5-hour ENERGY/Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing

Starting Position: 2nd

What did you miss out there that cost you?

“I just missed Turn 1 just slightly there in that last run on the first lap, but overall lit was a solid day. We had a decent practice – a short practice, you know, because we waited a little bit for the VHT to kind of get run in and we went out there and ran and were probably a little bit off further on balance more than we needed to be at the end of practice. So made some changes for qualifying and the guys did a good job of getting it right and we were close, so couple thousandths, a few inches here or there in a different spot on the race track and might have been able to make it up, but a solid effort for us and we can go get them on Sunday from second."

Why is qualifying important here?

“Yeah, it was good. A good day for us to, you know, have a good qualifying effort. Obviously, everybody knows qualifying here at New Hampshire is important. Pit stall, but also just track position – starting the race up front makes your day a little easier, sets you up for hopefully a good run in that first stage and, yeah, it was a good day, so guy’s did a good job. We were off a little bit at the end of practice and made some changes for qualifying and, yeah, went well, so excited about that. Wish we could have found just a little bit more, but most importantly we were in a good spot for Sunday."

KYLE BUSCH, No 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Starting Position: 3rd

Did you leave just a bit out there?

“Yeah, we left some out there. Just wasn’t able to quite capitalize on a good, strong run first round and second round. Maybe we just used too much tire and didn’t have enough for the third run, but I don’t know."

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Starting Position: 4th

Did you back it up into Turns 3 and 4?

“Yeah, I mean typically on the second lap I’ve been – in 14 years, I usually blow through the front tires through (Turns) 3 and 4 trying to get a little more, so was trying to be patient with it. I got back to the gas pretty good, but I just had a bad angle for the exit. Overall, kind of should have got it done on the first lap, but just got a little too edgy into (Turn) 1 and chattered the rears, but overall decent day so far. We’ll work on it tomorrow and get this good for 301 laps."

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