HAMPTON, Ga. — Kevin Harvick lived up to the Jimmy John’s mantra of “Freaky Fast” on Friday evening at Atlanta Motor Speedway, knocking off Ryan Newman in the waning moments of the final round to notch his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series pole as a Ford driver.
Harvick continued the early-season show of strength by SHR in their transition to the ‘Blue Oval Brigade’, posting a final round lap of 29.118 seconds (190.398 mph) in the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford to notch his 18th career Cup pole, second at Atlanta and first of the season.
The chassis Harvick took to the pole on Friday was one that topped qualifying twice last season as a Chevrolet.
“We spent a lot of time in race trim because we don’t really know this package with the Fords … so it’s been a process, learning how we needed to balance the car,” Harvick said. “We ran a couple sets of tires in race trim and just threw our qualifying package in right at the end of practice, and we were way too tight … but we found what we needed to when it counted tonight.”
“This pole is just a credit to everyone at Stewart Haas Racing. From winning the Daytona 500 last weekend with the 41 (Kurt Busch) … to come here and see the progress we’ve made over the course of the day so far is fantastic. It’s really hard to explain how big of a transition this has been for the whole company, but (being fast) is what it’s all about and this pole is for all of them.”
Newman was seeking his record-breaking eighth pole at Atlanta, attempting to break a deadlock with his long-time friend and mentor Buddy Baker, but came up just short after a lap of 29.199 seconds (189.870 mph) in his No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet.
“I’m just so proud of our guys. This was a good effort to improve on where we were at this point last year. To be competitive and win practice today, it was the first time we had done that in a while,” Newman said. “Harvick just slipped in there and beat us. Either he found something or just got his ultimate lap there. We wanted the pole, but the effort that went into the this is big and I feel like we have a good car.”
Kyle Busch clocked in third-fastest (29.202/189.850) in his No. 18 Snickers Toyota, followed by the Fords of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (29.356/188.854) and Brad Keselowski (29.367/188.783) in the top five.
Joey Logano, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were the rest of the drivers who advanced through all three knockout rounds.
Continued on the next page…
