DOVER, Del. – Kyle Larson scored his fifth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series pole in dominating fashion Friday at Dover Int’l Speedway, leading the final two rounds of knockout qualifying.
Driving the No. 42 DC Solar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, Larson toured the one-mile concrete oval in 22.770 seconds (158.103 mph), capturing the Bowtie’s first pole in NASCAR’s top series since Alex Bowman earned the top spot on the grid for the Daytona 500 in February.
All five of Larson’s Cup Series poles have come at different race tracks.
“I felt like I nailed that lap pretty good. Everything from coming to the green through (turns) one and two was really good,” said Larson. “I maybe left a little bit out there in turns three and four; I got in there a little hot and up the track. I planned on moving up the race track each round, but the first round caught me off guard. I was really loose getting in, but my crew made great adjustments on the DC Solar Chevy over the next two rounds.
“In the second round, we were probably a little too tight, but they kind of found a happy medium for me there in the final round,” Larson added. “I’m happy about that. We’ve always qualified well here. I had yet to get a pole. I’ve raced well here, but have yet to get a win, too. Maybe we’ll get both out of the way this weekend.”
Larson will be flanked by three-time season winner Kevin Harvick on the front row when the green flag drops Sunday for the AAA 400 Drive for Autism. Harvick took his No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion to a lap of 22.858 seconds (157.494 mph) in the final round, nearly a tenth off Larson’s pole-winning run.
A pair of Toyotas will share row two, with Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch qualifying third and fourth, respectively. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. completed the top five.
Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Erik Jones and Clint Bowyer filled out the top 12 starting spots and all advanced through each of the three knockout rounds.
Aric Almirola was the first driver who failed to make the final round, qualifying 13th in the No. 10 Smithfield Ford with a time of 23.096 seconds (155.871 mph).
Other notables starting in the middle of the field include Ryan Blaney (14th), Alex Bowman (15th), rookie William Byron (17th), 11-time Dover winner Jimmie Johnson (19th) and Friday practice leader Paul Menard (20th).
Kasey Kahne ran identical first (23.306) and second (23.508) laps to Newman in the opening round, but lost out on the tiebreaker due to being lower in owner points with the No. 95 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
“Today’s his lucky day to be 24th,” said Kahne of Newman. “I was just really tight and couldn’t get through the corners the way I wanted to. We’ve got some work to do, but we’ve got two practice sessions tomorrow to figure it out.”
Darrell Wallace Jr. (26th) and Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon (27th) were also knocked out in round one of qualifying.
Corey LaJoie did not post a qualifying lap after his TriStar Motorsports entry suffered an engine failure in practice.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams return to the track for two practice sessions on Saturday, scheduled for 8:30 and 11 a.m. Eastern time.
To view the complete starting grid, advance to the next page.
