Kevin Harvick Wins First-Career Texas Cup Series Pole

Kevin Harvick
Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Kevin Harvick needed a do-over in the second round of Friday's knockout qualifying session at Texas Motor Speedway, but putting the extra lap on his tires proved well worth the effort.

Harvick led not only the second round but also the first and third in winning the pole for Sunday's O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway (1:30 p.m. ET on FOX).

"I just didn't feel like I got through Turns 1 and 2 like I needed to," Harvick said of his first attempt in the second round. "The front took off, and I didn't want to do what everyone was doing in practice and get out of the groove and drive it into the wall.

"It's been a stressful day, coming in and breaking in a new (resurfaced) race track and going out there running as fast as we had to run for qualifying."

In the final round, Harvick secured his second Coors Light Pole Award of the season in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, his second of the season and the 19th of his career with his fastest lap of the afternoon, covering the distance on the repaved and reconfigured speedway in 27.217 seconds (198.405 mph).

That was quick enough to edge Ryan Blaney (198.020 mph) for the top starting spot by .053 seconds. Blaney and Clint Bowyer ran identical times in the final round, with Blaney getting the nod for the second position on the basis of owner points.

"Man, I heard that they give you a shotgun when you win the pole here," Blaney said of the coveted qualifying trophy. "I saw my lap and thought that might do it, but Kevin just snuck by us.

"I think I have a really fast Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion. It was even good in race trim today. The track has come a long way in a few hours, and hopefully it will widen out even more for the XFINITY race (Saturday) and for our practices. Not a bad start to the weekend."

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"] Ford drivers swept the top five starting spots, in part because several of the strongest Chevrolets were out of the equation, having failed to clear pre-qualifying inspection in time to make qualifying runs in the first round.

Among the Chevy drivers missing in action were Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series leader Kyle Larson and the Hendrick Motorsports trio of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chase Elliott and Kasey Kahne.

Hendrick driver Jimmie Johnson had a different issue. Starting and then aborting a second lap in the first round, Johnson lost control through Turns 1 and 2 and spun, flat-spotting his tires. Since drivers must start the race on their qualifying tires, Johnson sat out the second and third rounds and will start 24th on Sunday.

"I think we used up all our good luck at Homestead last year," who won his record-tying seventh title at the South Florida track. "I took the stripe, and we were in position to run two (laps) and see what was going to happen. (Crew chief) Chad (Knaus) called me off when he saw the time.

"When I heard that, I dumped the throttle real hard to try and check-up and roll through the center so I could go through the corner slowly; and when I dumped out of the throttle it pitched the car sideways and I started chasing it going into the turn. I thought I had it saved and then I got into all those marbles and kept getting closer to the wall and spun."

In addition to Larson and the Hendrick drivers, Kyle Busch and Erik Jones did not advance through inspection in time to qualify. Both suffered accidents in Friday's opening practice, with Jones going to a backup car and Busch's crew attempting to repair the primary.

"We were just behind the eight ball, having to fix that car, so obviously we got in line really late and in our haste, we didn't get our tech blocks set correctly, so we passed templates, passed the grid, passed undercar, passed everything except when we got to the scales, which is the very last thing," said Adam Stevens, Busch's crew chief.

"The wedge has to be within a certain number, and we were below that number. That's just for tech – it's not for on the race track – so the car was all set to go, and we didn't get a chance to set our tech blocks because we were in such a hurry, so just an error on our part."

Qualifying Results

Pos. # Driver Make Sponsor Time Behind Lap
1 4 Kevin Harvick Ford Jimmy John's 27.217 0.000 198.405
2 21 Ryan Blaney Ford Motorcraft 27.270 -0.053 198.020
3 14 Clint Bowyer Ford Haas-Automation 27.270 -0.053 198.020
4 22 Joey Logano Ford Shell Pennzoil 27.306 -0.089 197.759
5 2 Brad Keselowski Ford Miller Lite 27.333 -0.116 197.563
6 1 Jamie McMurray Chevy Sherwin Williams 27.482 -0.265 196.492
7 78 Martin Truex Jr Toyota Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats 27.492 -0.275 196.421
8 20 Matt Kenseth Toyota Let's Go Places 27.509 -0.292 196.299
9 31 Ryan Newman Chevy Caterpillar 27.618 -0.401 195.525
10 41 Kurt Busch Ford Monster Energy 27.692 -0.475 195.002
11 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Ford Ford EcoBoost 27.761 -0.544 194.517
12 6 Trevor Bayne Ford Performance Plus Motor Oil 28.113 -0.896 192.082
13 95 Michael McDowell Chevy WRL General Contractors 27.703 -0.486 194.925
14 13 Ty Dillon Chevy GEICO 27.714 -0.497 194.847
15 34 Landon Cassill Ford Love's Travel Stops 27.734 -0.517 194.707
16 47 AJ Allmendinger Chevy Kroger Click List 27.781 -0.564 194.377
17 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Office 27.823 -0.606 194.084
18 43 Aric Almirola Ford Smithfield 27.855 -0.638 193.861
19 10 Danica Patrick Ford TaxAct 27.876 -0.659 193.715
20 19 Daniel Suarez Toyota Stanley 27.937 -0.720 193.292
21 38 David Ragan Ford Camping World 28.058 -0.841 192.458
22 27 Paul Menard Chevy Dutch Boy / Menards 28.254 -1.037 191.123
23 83 Corey LaJoie Toyota Dustless Blasting 28.614 -1.397 188.719
24 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevy Lowe's 27.943 -0.726 193.251
25 3 Austin Dillon Chevy Dow Energy & Water 28.339 -1.122 190.550
26 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford Can-Am / Kappa 28.371 -1.154 190.335
27 7 JJ Yeley Chevy Accell Construction, Inc. 28.452 -1.235 189.793
28 72 Cole Whitt Ford RTIC Coolers 28.542 -1.325 189.195
29 23 Gray Gaulding Toyota Dr. Pepper 28.683 -1.466 188.265
30 15 Reed Sorenson Toyota Xchange of America 28.695 -1.478 188.186
31 33 Jeffrey Earnhardt Chevy Little Joes Autos 29.532 -2.315 182.852
32 42 Kyle Larson Chevy Credit One Bank 0.000 27.217 0.000
33 24 Chase Elliott Chevy NAPA Auto Parts 0.000 27.217 0.000
34 18 Kyle Busch Toyota Interstate Batteries 0.000 27.217 0.000
35 5 Kasey Kahne Chevy Farmers Insurance 0.000 27.217 0.000
36 77 Erik Jones Toyota 5-hour ENERGY 0.000 27.217 0.000
37 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevy Axalta 0.000 27.217 0.000
38 37 Chris Buescher Chevy Scott Products 0.000 27.217 0.000
39 51 Timmy Hill Chevy Fenton Motors 0.000 27.217 0.000
40 55 Derrike Cope Chevy Low T Centers 0.000 27.217 0.000


[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]

Social Media Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com