TALLADEGA, Ala. – Kevin Harvick turned apparent misfortune into a stroke of positive momentum Saturday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway, capturing the Busch Pole Award ahead of the GEICO 500.
Harvick toured the 2.66-mile, high-banked tri-oval in 49.247 seconds (194.448 mph) with the Mobil 1 Ford for his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series pole of the season, second at Talladega and 22nd of his career.
“Man, this is just a huge credit to the team and Roush Yates engines and everybody who works on all the superspeedway stuff to get this pole,” said Harvick. “We have made some huge improvements, and obviously to have the Busch on-board and everybody from Busch here to see the Busch Pole Award presented to their car is a lot of fun.
“This is an exciting weekend for us; it’s great. Hopefully we can wind up in the same spot on Sunday.”
While Harvick’s final round run appeared effortless, his opening round lap was anything but after Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Aric Almirola spun in turn one while Harvick was getting up to speed.
Harvick ran over debris that came off Almirola’s No. 10 Ford, which put small cuts in the right-side tires on his car, but he made it back to pit road as the red flag was displayed.
NASCAR permitted the team to change the right-side tires and make slight repairs to the right-rear fender area, and Harvick responded by going back out later and going fastest in both knockout rounds.
“We had no clue as to how fast the car would run. We knew we had a fast car, but we didn’t do any qualifying runs. The first indicator we had was our first time on the race track, and that was even a little bit of a question because of having to change the tires, cool the engine down and go back out. We didn’t know what the pickup in the car would be or wouldn’t be.
“When you look at that, it makes it very rewarding for the guys that work on these speedway cars and the engine shop and the guys on the (No.) 4 team. That’s what I’m most proud of. We have never been close to a superspeedway pole, and I think this says a lot about the effort they are putting into it.”
Another Stewart-Haas teammate in Kurt Busch will join Harvick on the front row on Sunday. Busch posted a time of 49.340 seconds (194.082 mph) in the No. 41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Ford.
“Today I felt like we had a chance to get the pole,” said Busch, who was seeking his first pole on a restrictor-place race track. “That all starts with the engine department and the way that Doug Yates approaches these restrictor plate races. It’s all about the team behind the driver here.
“We were so close, but to be on the outside pole is cool. I am happy with that and for Stewart-Haas Racing to have (swept) the front row. Our Fords have been solid all year long, and then to back up the superspeedway performance with the front row sweep today is huge. It was a bucket list item for me to have the pole today, but we got second, so it’s not too bad.”
The Toyota duo of defending Cup champion Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin will start third and fourth, respectively, with Chase Elliott’s Chevrolet completing the top five.
Erik Jones, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman and David Ragan fill out the first six rows of the starting grid and all advanced to the final round.
The first driver below the cut line at the end of round one was Paul Menard, who qualified 13th for the Wood Brothers with a lap of 50.009 seconds (191.486 mph) in the No. 21 Menards/Quaker State Ford.
Other notables starting deep in the field on Sunday include Daytona 500 runner-up Darrell Wallace Jr. (15th), seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson (16th), rookie William Byron (17th) and Kyle Busch (19th), who is looking to score his fourth-straight Cup Series victory on Sunday.
Daytona 500 champion Austin Dillon rolls off 24th in the No. 3 Dow Scooper Cat Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.
