SONOMA, Calif– Kyle Larson continues his breakout year with his second consecutive pole award and third of the season, ahead of Sunday’s Toyota/Savemart 350 from Sonoma Raceway.
The Chip Ganassi Racing driver and current Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points leader went out late into the second round of qualifying to land the top spot (75.177/95.295 mph) against his CGR teammate Jamie McMurray. In the process, giving the organization it’s third ever front row sweep in the Cup series.
For the home track driver, he thought he lost the pole lap early in the run.
“The whole lap felt pretty bad.” Larson said. “I messed up into turn one and into two. I was out a little bit too far and I felt like I gave up enough there that I wouldn’t have a shot at the pole. I thought maybe I’d maintain and run about the same lap time as the run previous. I was surprised when I was the time pop up on my dash, I’m really happy about that. This is cool to get a pole on a road course, my home state. This is my closest track to Sacramento or Elk Grove where I grew up. So, lots of friends and family here, we’re going to celebrate with the team. Now we’re going to head out to Calistoga and go watch some Sprint Car racing, so I’m excited about that.”
For McMurray, he paced the duration of the second round of qualifying (75.249/95.204 mph). The three time pole winner at Sonoma looked poised to once again lead the field to green until his teammate jumped him in the final minute to bump him to the second starting position on Sunday.
“I don’t know that you feel you can get everything, but our Cessna Chevy was good both runs.” McMurray said. “We made a little adjustment for the scuffed tires, I was really happy that we were able to run quicker than we did on stickers. I thought I did a really good job. I didn’t feel like I gave up any time. There wasn’t a corner that stood out, in the first round in turn seven I messed up. Overall it was a really good lap, Kyle just got a little bit more. I thought he was going to give it back to me in turn 11, but the lap tracker is painful when you go first, it’s horrible to have to watch that. That’s cool, the team has been on a roll and our whole CGR has been pretty awesome this year. I know Chip just went back to Road America today to see Mike Hall for his 25 years with the company, which is awesome. I’ll be getting a phone call soon, he’ll be pretty pumped.”
Qualifying third is 2013 race winner Martin Truex Jr, with 2015 race winner Kyle Busch and AJ Allmendinger rounding out the top five.
Danica Patrick, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Chris Buescher, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Daniel Suarez and Kevin Harvick complete the rest of the top-12.
Notables missing the final round of qualifying include, Clint Bowyer (P13), Denny Hamlin (P14), Kurt Busch (P17), Joey Logano (P18), Brad Keselowski (P23) and Jimmie Johnson (P24).
Matt Kenseth (P38) will start at the rear of the field on Sunday after changing their engine after their primary blew up in practice on Friday.
Next on track activity for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is Sunday June 24 at 3 pm ET, for the Toyota/Savemart 350 (Fox Sports 1, PRN and Sirius XM).
