Daniel Suarez tops SHR teammate Almirola for Kentucky pole

Suarez, the final of 36 cars to make a qualifying attempt on Friday, rocketed to the top of the leaderboard as Fords claimed four of the top-five starting positions.

Suarez’s average lap speed of 184.590 mph was almost a mile-an-hour faster than his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Aric Almirola (183.799 mph). Brad Keselowski ended up third (183.443 mph).

Kurt Busch, driving Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 1 Chevrolet, was fourth-fastest and the only non-Ford driver in the top-five. Kevin Harvick wound up fifth.

The pole is just the second for Suarez in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and first of the 2019 season. His previous pole came last season at Pocono Raceway.

“The car has been very fast the entire day. We had the fastest car (on long runs) in last practice and now we have the fastest car in qualifying,” Suarez, a native of Monterrey, Mexico, said. “I’m just very proud of my guys – everyone who makes this possible.

“We’ve been working very hard and it’s showing up at the race track.”

Asked what it means to start up front on what can be a very difficult track, Suarez said: “I really want to win so bad. I haven’t been in Victory Lane for a while. 

“The last time I was in Victory Lane was in Brazil. I’ve been looking forward to bringing trophy home for a while. We have a really fast car and now it’s up to me to make it happen tomorrow night.”

Rounding out the top 10 in qualifying are Daniel Hemric, Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr., Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Time	Gap	Mph
1	41	Daniel Suarez		Ford	29.254		184.590
2	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	29.380	0.126	183.799
3	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	29.437	0.183	183.443
4	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	29.451	0.197	183.355
5	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	29.458	0.204	183.312
6	8	Daniel Hemric		Chevrolet	29.526	0.272	182.890
7	14	Clint Bowyer		Ford	29.535	0.281	182.834
8	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	29.575	0.321	182.587
9	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	29.580	0.326	182.556
10	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	29.601	0.347	182.426
11	22	Joey Logano		Ford	29.620	0.366	182.309
12	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	29.625	0.371	182.278
13	48	Jimmie Johnson		Chevrolet	29.646	0.392	182.149
14	21	Paul Menard		Ford	29.667	0.413	182.020
15	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	29.671	0.417	181.996
16	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Ford	29.686	0.432	181.904
17	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	29.752	0.498	181.500
18	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	29.763	0.509	181.433
19	42	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	29.776	0.522	181.354
20	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	29.779	0.525	181.336
21	20	Erik Jones		Toyota	29.821	0.567	181.080
22	88	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	29.874	0.620	180.759
23	6	Ryan Newman		Ford	29.887	0.633	180.681
24	95	Matt DiBenedetto		Toyota	29.914	0.660	180.517
25	38	David Ragan		Ford	29.948	0.694	180.313
26	37	Chris Buescher		Chevrolet	29.954	0.700	180.276
27	13	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	29.985	0.731	180.090
28	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.		Chevrolet	30.008	0.754	179.952
29	32	Corey Lajoie		Ford	30.014	0.760	179.916
30	47	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	30.023	0.769	179.862
31	36	Matt Tifft		Ford	30.172	0.918	178.974
32	51	Bayley Currey		Ford	30.387	1.133	177.708
33	15	Ross Chastain		Chevrolet	30.421	1.167	177.509
34	00	Landon Cassill		Chevrolet	30.533	1.279	176.858
35	52	B.J. McLeod		Chevrolet	30.964	1.710	174.396
36	77	Quin Houff		Chevrolet	31.031	1.777	174.020