BRISTOL, Tenn. – Kyle Busch edged out older brother Kurt Busch to win the pole for the Food City 500 during qualifying on Friday, leading two out of the three knockout rounds en route to the top spot on the grid.
The younger Busch brother turned a lap of 14.895 seconds (128.822 mph) in the No. 18 Skittles Toyota Camry en route to his 29th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series pole and second of the season. He also earned the pole at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February.
Friday marked the third time that the Busch brothers will share the front row in Cup Series competition, with Kyle Busch earning the pole in all three instances.
“He always told everyone, ‘If you think I’m good, just wait until you see my younger brother,’ so I’m glad I’m living up to those expectations,” joked Kyle Busch, who topped rounds one and three in qualifying.
“(Crew chief) Adam (Stevens) and my guys continue to do an awesome job in the preparation of these cars,” Busch added. “It’s nice to come out here and grab a front-row starting spot, but we have to be mindful of the fact that we have a good race car and take care of it so that we’re there at the end. Any time I’ve ever started up front here, I’ve ended up finishing in the back and whenever I’ve started in the back here, I’ve finished up front. We’re hoping to change that this weekend by starting and finishing out front.”
Kurt Busch cited one miscue that cost him the pole, timing in second-quick with a lap of 14.897 seconds (128.804 mph) in the No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford and falling just .002 of a second shy of earning his second-straight Busch Pole Award.
“I missed it a little bit in turn one,” lamented Kurt Busch. “I got a little greedy, drove in a little too deep, washed up a little and just lost it by a smidge. The VHT (traction compound) … where they have it sprayed down, if you miss it … even just a little bit, it acts like a rut, like what they have in Supercross.
“It was super close. The guys made the right adjustments. You just have to be perfect at Bristol, because if you have one little slip there’s no time to make it back up. I made one tiny mistake and that’s all that Kyle needed in order to get the pole away from us. I can’t believe it was two thousandths though. It felt like an eternity.”
Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski trailed the two Busch brothers with his No. 2 Discount Tire Ford, qualifying third (14.960/128.262) ahead of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Blaney.
Kyle Larson was the top-qualifying Chevrolet driver in sixth, with Paul Menard, Alex Bowman, Michael McDowell, Joey Logano, William Byron and Daniel Suarez filling out the first dozen starting spots.
Erik Jones was the first driver who failed to advance to the final round, qualifying 13th in the No. 20 DEWALT Toyota with a lap of 15.071 seconds (127.317 mph).
Other notables starting mid-pack include Martinsville winner Clint Bowyer (14th), defending race winner Jimmie Johnson (17th), Aric Almirola (19th), Darrell Wallace Jr. (20th) and Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon (21st).
Former Bristol winner and short track ace Denny Hamlin never even made it out of the first round on Friday. He’ll start 25th come race time after a disappointing lap of 15.256 seconds (125.773 mph) in the No. 11 FedEx Toyota.
Defending Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. also failed to advance from round one and starts 26th, while Kevin Harvick failed to make a qualifying attempt after crashing in practice and will start last in the 39-car field on Sunday.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams return to the track for two practice sessions Saturday morning, with the first rolling off at 8:30 a.m. and final practice kicking off at 11 a.m.
