Kyle Larson edges Chase Elliott for Bristol pole

Larson ended up fastest in all three rounds of Friday’s knockout qualifying, using an average lap speed of 127.792 mph to win the pole for Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops 500.

The pole is his third of the year, seventh of his career and first at Bristol. Larson started first in the 2017 spring race at Bristol but the field was set by owner points when qualifying was rained out.

"It's always good to qualify well but this is my favorite race track so it's nice to start out front and hopefully we can lead a lot of laps tomorrow and finally close on of these things out," Larson said.

"I've been close so many times. I feel like I've ran second or third and led the most laps here so many times. Hopefully this is the weekend that we can close it out. I feel like I have two really good cars, both for the Xfintiy Series and here tomorrow as well."

Larson’s previous best finish at Bristol in nine starts was second in this year’s spring race.

Chase Elliott ended up second (127.665 mph) and Kyle Busch – who won the spring race – was third (127.639 mph). Paul Menard was fourth and rookie William Byron completed the top-five.

"You have to be really close to perfect, if not perfect here," Elliott said. It's so hard to be good for 500 laps, but that's what it takes. I really wanted that first pit box, that makes such a huge difference here. If there's any place that makes a difference, it's here."

Rounding out the Top 12 starters are Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Cla	#	Driver	4506	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	3	15.015			127.792
2	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	3	15.030	0.015	0.015	127.665
3	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	4	15.033	0.018	0.003	127.639
4	21	Paul Menard	Ford	4	15.037	0.022	0.004	127.605
5	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	5	15.043	0.028	0.006	127.554
6	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	3	15.104	0.089	0.061	127.039
7	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	3	15.121	0.106	0.017	126.896
8	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	3	15.123	0.108	0.002	126.880
9	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	3	15.125	0.110	0.002	126.863
10	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	4	15.137	0.122	0.012	126.762
11	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	5	15.198	0.183	0.061	126.253
12	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	4	15.230	0.215	0.032	125.988

Round 2

Larson was the first car on the track in the second round but didn’t begin his lap until just under four minutes remained in the session.

He still ended up with the fastest average lap of the session, coming in at 127.631 mph. Menard was second (127.123 mph) and Kyle Busch was third (126.972 mph). Keselowski and Hamlin completed the top-five.

Also advancing to the final round were Elliott, Kurt Busch, Harvick, Blaney, Byron, Almirola and Stenhouse.

“I lost all kinds of grip with the right front,” Stenhouse said over his team radio following his run.

Among those who failed to advance were Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Erik Jones, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano and Alex Bowman, who tagged the wall during his qualifying run.

“We were really fast in the first round and it just didn’t transfer over to the second round,” Jones said. “We’ll have some cars to pass tomorrow night. We’ll work from behind but I think we’ll be fine.”

Cla	#	Driver	4506	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	3	15.034			127.631
2	21	Paul Menard	Ford	2	15.094	0.060	0.060	127.123
3	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	4	15.112	0.078	0.018	126.972
4	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	4	15.125	0.091	0.013	126.863
5	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	2	15.131	0.097	0.006	126.813
6	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	2	15.135	0.101	0.004	126.779
7	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	3	15.138	0.104	0.003	126.754
8	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	3	15.146	0.112	0.008	126.687
9	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	4	15.154	0.120	0.008	126.620
10	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	3	15.225	0.191	0.071	126.030
11	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	4	15.226	0.192	0.001	126.021
12	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	3	15.237	0.203	0.011	125.930
13	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	6	15.238	0.204	0.001	125.922
14	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	3	15.246	0.212	0.008	125.856
15	38	David Ragan	Ford	5	15.266	0.232	0.020	125.691
16	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	4	15.268	0.234	0.002	125.675
17	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	4	15.271	0.237	0.003	125.650
18	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	3	15.278	0.244	0.007	125.592
19	22	Joey Logano	Ford	4	15.294	0.260	0.016	125.461
20	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	4	15.301	0.267	0.007	125.404
21	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	4	15.306	0.272	0.005	125.363
22	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	4	15.336	0.302	0.030	125.117
23	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	5	15.342	0.308	0.006	125.068
24	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	4	15.431	0.397	0.089	124.347

Round 1

Larson set a blistering pace in the first round and his average lap speed of 127.946 mph was the fastest lap run so far on Friday.

Elliott ended up second (127.098 mph) and Blaney third (126.955 mph). Stenhouse and Suarez completed the top-five.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Johnson, Jones, McMurray, Hamlin and Bayne.

Among those who failed to advance to Round 2 were A.J. Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, Kasey Kahne, Darrell Wallace Jr. and Ty Dillon.

“It was good on the bottom and we were able to run some good laps up top. We’ll get some speed going and get some momentum and try to keep moving forward,” Buescher said.

“We have something I feel like we can move around. The PJ1 ran out real quickly. Just trying to figure out how to get more qualifying speed. I think our race speed is good.”

Most of the cars waited until there was just over seven minutes left in the 15-minute first round before they ventured out on the track to make their qualifying runs.

Cla	#	Driver	4506	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	2	14.997			127.946
2	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	2	15.097	0.100	0.100	127.098
3	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	2	15.114	0.117	0.017	126.955
4	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	2	15.126	0.129	0.012	126.854
5	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	2	15.130	0.133	0.004	126.821
6	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	3	15.138	0.141	0.008	126.754
7	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	2	15.170	0.173	0.032	126.486
8	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	2	15.205	0.208	0.035	126.195
9	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	5	15.233	0.236	0.028	125.963
10	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	4	15.238	0.241	0.005	125.922
11	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	2	15.239	0.242	0.001	125.914
12	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	2	15.241	0.244	0.002	125.897
13	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	3	15.252	0.255	0.011	125.806
14	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	3	15.259	0.262	0.007	125.749
15	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	2	15.261	0.264	0.002	125.732
16	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	2	15.262	0.265	0.001	125.724
17	22	Joey Logano	Ford	2	15.264	0.267	0.002	125.708
18	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	3	15.272	0.275	0.008	125.642
19	38	David Ragan	Ford	5	15.278	0.281	0.006	125.592
20	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	3	15.279	0.282	0.001	125.584
21	21	Paul Menard	Ford	2	15.281	0.284	0.002	125.568
22	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	5	15.290	0.293	0.009	125.494
23	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	6	15.294	0.297	0.004	125.461
24	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	7	15.308	0.311	0.014	125.346
25	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	3	15.363	0.366	0.055	124.897
26	95	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	6	15.426	0.429	0.063	124.387
27	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Chevrolet	8	15.435	0.438	0.009	124.315
28	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	4	15.448	0.451	0.013	124.210
29	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	5	15.466	0.469	0.018	124.066
30	72	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	3	15.482	0.485	0.016	123.937
31	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	4	15.514	0.517	0.032	123.682
32	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	8	15.567	0.570	0.053	123.261
33	96	Jesse Little	Toyota	4	15.688	0.691	0.121	122.310
34	7	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	7	15.754	0.757	0.066	121.798
35	15	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	4	15.758	0.761	0.004	121.767
36	51	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	3	15.822	0.825	0.064	121.274
37	66	Timmy Hill	Toyota	12	15.882	0.885	0.060	120.816
38	99	Gray Gaulding	Chevrolet	12	15.899	0.902	0.017	120.687
39	00	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	7	15.936	0.939	0.037	120.407
40	23	Jones Blake	Toyota	9	16.101	1.104	0.165	119.173
41	52	B.J. McLeod	Chevrolet	12	15.909	0.912		120.611