Truex takes Dover pole over Kyle Busch in Toyota-dominated qualifying

Martin Truex Jr., who has already advanced to Round 2 of the playoffs and leads the series with five victories, earned just his second pole of the season on Friday, taking the top spot for Sundays’ Apache Warrior 400 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway.

It appeared Kyle Busch would sweep all three rounds of knockout qualifying until Truex posted his lap of 160.664 mph, edging Busch (160.392 mph).

Truex’s only previous pole this season was at the July race at New Hampshire. It’s the 14th pole of his career.

“It’s hard to put it all together for that third round and I still thought I could have done a better job driving,” Truex said. “It’s a great start for Sunday and hopefully we’ll get some more points.

“Dover is an awesome place, it’s a lot of fun to race here. I don’t think we could be a whole lot better than we’ve done the last few weeks. Everything is clicking for us right now.

“We need to keep taking advantage of these great race cars.”

Kyle Larson will start third, Matt Kenseth fourth and Daniel Suarez fifth.

Rounding out the top 12: Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Newman, Kevin Harvick, Erik Jones, Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott.

Earnhardt’s seventh-place start is his first top-10 starting position since he won the pole for the July race at Daytona.

Round 2

Kyle Busch kept his hold on the top spot, but by holding off an unexpected second-place driver in Earnhardt in the second 10-minute qualifying session.

Busch’s average lap speed of 160.800 mph topped Earnhardt’s lap of 160.235 mph.

Larson was third, Suarez was fourth and Newman was fifth.

“Good job, good adjustments, probably didn’t need that track bar down the back, but that was a good (Turns) 1 and 2,” Earnhardt said over his team radio following his qualifying lap

Also advancing to the final round were Blaney, Truex, Hamlin, Harvick, Kenseth, Jones and Elliott.

The playoff drivers who failed to advance out of Round 2 were Kurt Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Austin Dillon.

Round 1

Kyle Busch, who won the pole for the Dover spring race, got off to a strong start in the first 20-minute round of qualifying, claiming the top spot.

Busch’s average lap speed of 159.631 mph – set relatively late in the session – eclipsed the speed of Larson (159.497 mph).

Blaney was third-fastest, Kurt Busch was fourth and Hamlin was fifth.

Jamie McMurray was the only one of the 16 playoff drivers to fail to advance to Round 2. He will start 26th on Sunday.

“It wasn’t really any one thing sticking out. We were struggling for grip,” McMurray said. “You’re going to have days like that.”

Among the other notable drivers who failed to advance out of Round 1 included Paul Menard, A.J. Allmendinger and Ty Dillon.

The session began with at least 13 cars having not yet passed pre-qualifying inspection. Among them were Newman, Kenseth, Austin Dillon, Jones, Larson and Earnhardt.

All cars cleared inspection in time to get on the track. Matt DiBenedetto was the only driver not to take a time. His car experienced fuel pressure issues before he could complete one lap on the track and will start last (40th).

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Time	Gap	Mph
1	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	22.407		160.664
2	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	22.445	0.038	160.392
3	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	22.502	0.095	159.986
4	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	22.504	0.097	159.972
5	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	22.515	0.108	159.893
6	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	22.534	0.127	159.759
7	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	22.544	0.137	159.688
8	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	22.577	0.170	159.454
9	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	22.612	0.205	159.208
10	77	Erik Jones	Toyota	22.622	0.215	159.137
11	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	22.638	0.231	159.025
12	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	22.680	0.273	158.730
13	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	22.689	0.282	158.667
14	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	22.689	0.282	158.667
15	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	22.705	0.298	158.555
16	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	22.713	0.306	158.500
17	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	22.726	0.319	158.409
18	22	Joey Logano	Ford	22.737	0.330	158.332
19	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	22.754	0.347	158.214
20	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	22.811	0.404	157.819
21	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	22.819	0.412	157.763
22	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	22.826	0.419	157.715
23	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	22.842	0.435	157.604
24	10	Danica Patrick	Ford	22.923	0.516	157.048
25	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	22.875	0.468	157.377
26	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	22.923	0.516	157.048
27	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	22.939	0.532	156.938
28	38	David Ragan	Ford	23.006	0.599	156.481
29	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	23.038	0.631	156.264
30	95	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	23.100	0.693	155.844
31	34	Landon Cassill	Ford	23.311	0.904	154.434
32	15	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	23.506	1.099	153.152
33	72	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	23.519	1.112	153.068
34	83	Brett Moffitt	Toyota	23.544	1.137	152.905
35	66	Timmy Hill	Chevrolet	23.710	1.303	151.835
36	51	B.J. McLeod	Chevrolet	24.107	1.700	149.334
37	23	Corey Lajoie	Toyota	24.174	1.767	148.920
38	33	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Chevrolet	24.192	1.785	148.810
39	55	Reed Sorenson	Toyota	191.747	2'49.340	18.775
40	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	0.000		0.000