HAMPTON, Ga. — Just as he did a year ago at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kyle Busch woke up early on Saturday morning and cleaned house during NASCAR XFINITY Series qualifying.
Busch’s quest for a second-straight Rinnai 250 win will start from the pole once again, with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series regular posting a final round lap of 30.156 seconds (183.844 mph) in his No. 18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota Camry.
The pole was the 58th of Busch’s XFINITY career, his sixth at Atlanta and first of the season.
“It’s definitely a rewarding start to the day when you’re starting up front,” Busch said. “That’s good for this NOS Energy Drink Camry and these guys. It’s a new group of guys, a crew that I’m not used to working with yet, so that’s just a challenge that I’ll work with for a little bit until we get comfortable together.”
“As Brexton Busch would tell William Byron, ‘No win!’ Not yet, anyways. He can wait a couple more weeks, and his time will come here soon.”
Byron impressed onlookers by being the only series regular to qualify in the top five, posting a lap of 30.170 seconds (183.759 mph) on his third run after leading round two in his No. 9 Liberty University Chevrolet.
Byron, who announced a sponsorship deal of 15 races with Axalta Coating Systems earlier this week, will seek his first-career series win in just his second-ever start when the green flag drops at 2 p.m. ET (FS1, PRN, SiriusXM).
Opening round leader Brad Keselowski ended up third in the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford (30.187/183.655), followed by Kyle Larson’s Chevrolet (30.244/183.309) and Denny Hamlin’s Toyota (30.278/183.103).
Daniel Hemric, Matt Tifft, Cole Custer, Brendan Gaughan, Ryan Reed, Brennan Poole and Kevin Harvick.
Gaughan shuffled Darrell Wallace Jr. below the cut line as round two came to a close, with Wallace ending up as the first driver who failed to adavnce to the final round in his No. 6 Leidos Ford.
Wallace will start 13th after a lap of 30.528 seconds (181.604 mph) on his last run.
Also knocked out in round two were Cup regulars Ty Dillon (14th), Aric Almirola (15th) and Austin Dillon (17th), as well as XFINITY championship contender Michael Annett (18th).
Elliott Sadler sustained a cut tire on re-entry to pit road after his first run, and was not able to participate in round two after setting the fourth-fastest lap in the opening round. Sadler was officially credited with 24th on the grid.
Blake Koch was bumped out by Gaughan as the red and black flags flew to end round one, with his lap of 30.796 seconds in the No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet placing him 25th on the grid for Saturday’s 250-mile event.
Other notables mired deep in the field after failing to advance out of round one include teammates Jordan Anderson (26th) and Ryan Sieg (28th), Brandon Jones (30th) and former series champion Jeff Green (32nd).
Carl Long smacked the wall in turn two to stall the opening round of qualifying with nine minutes and 17 seconds remaining, but climbed out of his car and walked to the ambulance under his own power. He was later evaluated and released from the infield care center.
Later, Mike Harmon’s car burst into flames in turns three and four with seven minutes and 27 seconds left in round one, dropping fluid on the track that again forced the red flag to be displayed. He climbed from his car under power as well and was checked and released.
With 43 cars on the grounds, Carl Long, Morgan Shepherd and Mike Harmon failed to qualify for the 40-car starting field.
Full qualifying results can be viewed on the next page…
