CONCORD, N.C. – Kurt Busch edged out one of the best road-course aces in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series field to earn the pole for the inaugural race on the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL Friday evening.
Busch nipped A.J. Allmendinger by .041 of a second during the second and final round of knockout qualifying at the 17-turn, 2.28-mile course to earn his fourth Busch Pole Award of the season and the 26th of his Cup Series career.
The 2004 champion and playoff contender posted a lap of one minute, 16.805 seconds (106.868 mph) with the No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford, making up enough time in the final chicane before the start/finish line to jump to the top of the heap.
“This is pretty special,” said Busch of winning the pole. “Any inaugural event is fun to go to, and you just try to learn as much as you can through testing, simulator work and then watching others, as well. We had a plan going into today and I’m really proud of (crew chief) Billy Scott that it stuck, we produced the two laps that we did and that we came into a unique situation like this and shined this afternoon.”
Busch even knew who he was going to have to beat before it set up that way, as well.
“I circled Allmendinger. He’s been on street courses and knows about bumps, curves, twists, turns and getting the most speed out of all of them,” noted Busch. “I thought our lap was good, but I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a pole time. I was just trying to manage my slips and not lose a lot of time.”
Allmendinger was the first to use the final chicane to post a solid time, knocking Alex Bowman off the top spot mid-way through the 10-minute session with his lap of 1:16.846 (106.811 mph) in the No. 47 Kroger ClickList Chevrolet.
While it looked like it would hold up all the way until Busch’s flying lap, Allmendinger’s first pole in three years simply wasn’t meant to be.
“I could have done better with all of it; that’s just the way this place is,” said Allmendinger of the ROVAL. “It’s what makes it interesting and fun. I kind of look at it like my Champ Car days … it’s a street course. You can nitpick and say I could have got a little more here or there, but you could also be in the wall very easily here as well.
“We weren’t very good in practice, so Trent and all the boys went to work on this Kroger Clicklist Chevy and got it way better than it was in practice. I was not very happy earlier. We were close, but this is a good starting spot.”
Bowman ended up third on the grid at the end of the final round, the highest of the three Hendrick Motorsports drivers who transferred through to run for the pole. His teammate Chase Elliott was fourth and Kyle Larson qualified fifth.
Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Blaney and Chris Buescher filled out the first five rows of the grid for Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400.
Rookie Daniel Hemric – who earlier in the day announced he’ll be driving the No. 31 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing full time in 2019 – will start 11th on race day alongside Erik Jones, who rallied from contact with the tire barriers in round one to make the final round.
A wild opening round saw defending Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. end up as the first driver who failed to advance. Truex landed 13th on the grid with a lap of 1:17.390 (106.060 mph) in the No. 78 Auto Owner’s Insurance Toyota.
“We gained quite a bit of speed there on our second run, but I got real tight coming out of the infield onto the big track and chattered the front tires there. I just couldn’t get the gas down,” noted Truex. “That cost me a lot of time. If I hadn’t screwed that corner up, we’d have been in good shape.
“We only made three laps of practice … and to figure this place out is a little tricky. I wish we could’ve got another run or two in earlier, but that’s the way it goes and we’ll line up 13th and go get them.”
Half of the 16 playoff drivers still in championship contention were eliminated in the first 25-minute scramble on Friday evening.
In addition to Truex, Kyle Busch (14th), Joey Logano (15th), Kevin Harvick (19th), Aric Almirola (20th), Austin Dillon (24th), Brad Keselowski (25th) and Denny Hamlin (27th) will all have a long road ahead of them to advance through the field during Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400.
Several drivers encountered mishaps during the first round of qualifying as well. Hamlin was the most notable name on that list, clipping the tire pack at the exit of the bus stop chicane on the backstretch with the left side of his No. 11 Toyota before tagging the outside wall with the right-rear of the car.
Hamlin’s crew thrashed to get him back on-track before the end of the session and was successful, but the Virginia driver was unable to improve his speed from his first timed lap.
Jones tagged the same tire pack as Hamlin, but was able to muster enough speed to move on to run for the pole, while Bubba Wallace spun for the fourth time during the day en route to 34th in qualifying.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams return to the track for practice on Saturday at 11 a.m.
