Kurt Busch takes Michigan pole over Brad Keselowski
Kurt Busch loves coming to Michigan and on Friday he showed why.
Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Fusion Monster Energy / Haas Automation pole award
Russell LaBounty / NKP / Motorsport Images
Busch surprised his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick with an average lap speed of 203.361 mph in the final round of qualifying to win the pole for Sunday’s FireKeepers 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
Harvick had easily been fastest through the first two rounds.
Brad Keselowski ended up second (203.156 mph), Kyle Busch was third (202.954 mph), Harvick fourth and Joey Logano completed the top-five.
The pole is Busch’s second this season, third at Michigan and 24th in his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career.
“I had the confidence in the car and my guys had it really dialed in,” Kurt Busch said. “To come to Michigan, and especially it being the manufacturers’ backyard, but the fact that we get to go 217 mph into the corners, it makes it fun and you can fun all the aero balance out the tires.
“I was surprised by tire grip level. I thought the way they did the Goodyear tire test they were going to have less grip and maybe that will happen in the race runs. In qualifying, we got ourselves a pole today.”
Asked how he will translate the qualifying performance into a potential first win of the season, Busch said, “We just need to focus now on race-trim, make sure the car doesn’t burn up one tire more than the other.
“Still, I need to drive aggressive. I need to stay firm on the gas pedal and not be hesitant and trust the grip-level and the aero of our Ford.”
Rounding out the Top 12 starters are Aric Almirola, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Erik Jones, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman and Clint Bowyer.
Round 2
Harvick went out early and again made quick work of the competition in Round 2.
His average lap speed of 203.092 mph was the fastest registered Friday up to this point. He moved to the final round of qualifying along with his three SHR teammates.
Kyle Busch ended up second (202.049 mph) and Blaney was third (201.981 mph). Kurt Busch finished fourth and Keselowski completed the top-five.
Also advancing to the final round were Logano, Hamlin, Bowyer, Newman, Jones, Stenhouse and Almirola.
Newman was the only Chevrolet driver to advance to the Top 12.
Among those who failed to advance were Chase Elliott, who was knocked out at the last minute by a late run from Hamlin; William Byron, Paul Menard, Martin Truex Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Alex Bowman and Daniel Suarez.
“We got better in the last round there, we were just way too tight,” Truex said. “We were way off in practice. It was just one of those days that we chased the balance a lot.”
Round 1
Harvick set a blistering pace in the first round that saw eight Fords and two Chevys claim the Top 10 speeds and the best Toyota coming in at 13th-fastest.
Harvick led with an average lap speed of 202.800 mph to lead the way. Blaney was second (201.896 mph) and Keselowski was third (201.461 mph). Logano was fourth and Menard completed the top-five.
Completing the Top 10 were Bowman, Almirola, Newman, Kurt Busch and Stenhouse.
Kyle Larson, who has won the past three races at Michigan, was the biggest surprise to fail to advance to Round 2. He ended up with the 26th-fastest speed – his worst starting position since the season-opening Daytona 500.
“Our car has been pretty far off all day, just really tight,” Larson said. “I just couldn’t even turn the wheel pretty far. I don’t know what that is.
“We got some smart people on our team that will figure it out and make it better for practice tomorrow.”
Among the others who failed to advance were A.J. Allmendinger, Darrell Wallace Jr., Kasey Kahne, Ty Dillon and Matt DiBenedetto.
“I didn’t think the track changed a lot. We ran pretty much the same speed as practice,” Allmendinger said. “I’m just terrible here.”
Cla | # | Driver | Manufacturer | Time | Gap | Mph |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 35.405 | 203.361 | |
2 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 35.439 | 0.034 | 203.166 |
3 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 35.447 | 0.042 | 203.120 |
4 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 35.476 | 0.071 | 202.954 |
5 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 35.614 | 0.209 | 202.168 |
6 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 35.713 | 0.308 | 201.607 |
7 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 35.774 | 0.369 | 201.263 |
8 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 35.796 | 0.391 | 201.140 |
9 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 35.858 | 0.453 | 200.792 |
10 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 35.928 | 0.523 | 200.401 |
11 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 35.989 | 0.584 | 200.061 |
12 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 36.039 | 0.634 | 199.784 |
13 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 35.904 | 0.499 | 200.535 |
14 | 24 | William Byron | Chevrolet | 35.912 | 0.507 | 200.490 |
15 | 21 | Paul Menard | Ford | 35.941 | 0.536 | 200.328 |
16 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 35.942 | 0.537 | 200.323 |
17 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 35.959 | 0.554 | 200.228 |
18 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevrolet | 35.985 | 0.580 | 200.083 |
19 | 6 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | 36.035 | 0.630 | 199.806 |
20 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 36.039 | 0.634 | 199.784 |
21 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 36.054 | 0.649 | 199.700 |
22 | 19 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 36.064 | 0.659 | 199.645 |
23 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 36.116 | 0.711 | 199.358 |
24 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 36.126 | 0.721 | 199.302 |
25 | 47 | A.J. Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 36.172 | 0.767 | 199.049 |
26 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 36.181 | 0.776 | 198.999 |
27 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 36.228 | 0.823 | 198.741 |
28 | 43 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | Chevrolet | 36.262 | 0.857 | 198.555 |
29 | 95 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | 36.372 | 0.967 | 197.954 |
30 | 32 | Matt DiBenedetto | Ford | 36.418 | 1.013 | 197.704 |
31 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 36.564 | 1.159 | 196.915 |
32 | 72 | Corey Lajoie | Chevrolet | 37.030 | 1.625 | 194.437 |
33 | 15 | Ross Chastain | Chevrolet | 37.081 | 1.676 | 194.170 |
34 | 23 | Gray Gaulding | Toyota | 37.374 | 1.969 | 192.647 |
35 | 51 | B.J. McLeod | Chevrolet | 37.484 | 2.079 | 192.082 |
36 | 00 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | 37.608 | 2.203 | 191.449 |
37 | 7 | D.J. Kennington | Chevrolet | 38.319 | 2.914 | 187.896 |
38 | 66 | Timmy Hill | Toyota | 38.617 | 3.212 | 186.446 |
39 | 99 | Garrett Smithley | Chevrolet | 38.618 | 3.213 | 186.442 |
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