Kyle Busch Grabs Fourth Pole of the Season

Kyle Busch
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Kyle Busch took his Joe Gibbs Racing Camry to the top of the starting grid for Sunday’s First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway with a lap time of19.673 seconds (98.254 MPH). Spring winner Clint Bowyer was second. Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney and Aric Almirola rounded out the top five.

Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano and William Byron completed the top 12.

Six of the remaining eight playoff drivers will start in the first six rows Sunday.

Blaney led the way with a lap time of 19.660 seconds (96.317 MPH) in a first session where the biggest surprise was active Martinsville win leader Jimmie Johnson struggling to make the top 24. Johnson was 30th before making a second attempt, and it took him multiple laps to take a 23rd-place time, which he couldn’t improve on in the next round. Johnson has nine career Martinsville wins and is a perennial favorite at the track.

The second round was Kurt Busch‘s turn to take over the top of the board, which he did with a time of 19.692 (96.161 MPH). Playoff drivers took five of the top 10 spots in the round as Busch topped brother Kyle, Hamlin, Bowyer and Almirola for the top five spots. Kevin Harvick (13th) and Chase Elliott (21st) were the only two playoff drivers not advancing to the pole round.

Sunday’s race is an impound race, so all cars will be held by NASCAR and inspected Sunday prior to the race. Teams cannot do any work on them prior to inspection and should any car not pass on the first try, the qualifying time will be thrown out and that car will start at the back of the field.

QUALIFYING RESULTS

POS CAR DRIVER MANUF BEHIND TIME SPEED
1 18 Kyle Busch (P) Toyota 19.673 96.254
2 14 Clint Bowyer (P) Ford 0.027 19.700 96.122
3 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 0.029 19.702 96.112
4 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 0.033 19.706 96.093
5 10 Aric Almirola (P) Ford 0.040 19.713 96.058
6 78 Martin Truex Jr. (P) Toyota 0.066 19.739 95.932
7 41 Kurt Busch (P) Ford 0.076 19.749 95.883
8 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 0.097 19.770 95.781
9 19 Daniel Suarez Toyota 0.113 19.786 95.704
10 42 Kyle Larson Chevy 0.133 19.806 95.607
11 22 Joey Logano (P) Ford 0.152 19.825 95.516
12 24 William Byron # Chevy 0.204 19.877 95.266
13 37 Chris Buescher Chevy 0.135 19.795 95.661
14 38 David Ragan Ford 0.136 19.796 95.656
15 20 Erik Jones Toyota 0.142 19.802 95.627
16 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 0.171 19.831 95.487
17 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 0.172 19.832 95.482
18 4 Kevin Harvick (P) Ford 0.176 19.836 95.463
19 24 William Byron # Chevy 0.176 19.836 95.463
20 78 Martin Truex Jr. (P) Toyota 0.198 19.858 95.357
21 88 Alex Bowman Chevy 0.203 19.863 95.333
22 34 Michael McDowell Ford 0.219 19.879 95.256
23 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevy 0.221 19.881 95.247
24 9 Chase Elliott (P) Chevy 0.231 19.891 95.199
25 15 Ross Chastain Chevy 0.238 19.898 95.165
26 13 Ty Dillon Chevy 0.245 19.905 95.132
27 6 Matt Kenseth Ford 0.253 19.913 95.094
28 3 Austin Dillon Chevy 0.256 19.916 95.079
29 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 0.258 19.918 95.070
30 95 Regan Smith Chevy 0.281 19.941 94.960
31 72 Cole Whitt Chevy 0.397 20.057 94.411
32 43 Bubba Wallace # Chevy 0.402 20.062 94.387
33 96 DJ Kennington Toyota 0.502 20.162 93.919
34 23 JJ Yeley Toyota 0.545 20.205 93.719
35 00 Joey Gase Chevy 0.682 20.342 93.088
36 51 Jeb Burton Chevy 0.728 20.388 92.878
37 66 Timmy Hill Toyota 0.772 20.432 92.678
38 7 Hermie Sadler III Chevy 0.812 20.472 92.497
39 21 Paul Menard Ford 1.380 21.040 90.000
40 99 Landon Cassill Chevy 0.000 0.000

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