Kyle Busch Edges Martin Truex Jr. For Dover NASCAR Cup Pole

Story By: REID SPENCER / NASCAR – DOVER, DE – If Joe Gibbs Racing isn’t back, it’s hard to say what “back” is.

Kyle Busch put his No. 18 JGR Toyota on the pole for Sunday’s AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway (1 p.m. ET on FS1), edging favorite son Martin Truex Jr. for the top starting spot by .011 seconds.

With JGR teammates Daniel Suarez (158.346 mph) earning a career-best third starting spot and Matt Kenseth (158.211 mph) qualifying fourth, the Gibbs cars appear ready to build on the momentum they gathered during Speedweeks at Charlotte, where Busch won the Monster Energy All-Star Race and finished second in last Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600.

“To sit on the pole here means a little bit for us – it gives us a really good pit selection for Sunday and, more importantly, just gives us the track position right off the bat,” said Busch, who won his first Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his first at Dover and the 20th of his career with a lap at 158.954 mph (22.648 seconds).

“We know the 78 car (Truex said) is going to be fast – they always are – and one of the guys we’re going to have to race against. There’s going to be many others that are starting farther back that we’ll be racing against, too, before the end of the day, but we’ll work on our Dogs Rule Pedigree Camry tomorrow in practice and make sure we get a good race setup underneath us, so we can hopefully stay up front.”

Truex (158.877 mph), the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series leader, qualified second by a razor-thin margin, even though he had an extra half-lap on his tires, having aborted his opening run in the first round of knockout qualifying after his car twitched off the corner.

“Yeah, I screwed up a little bit that first round and got loose going into (Turn 2) and aborted, and then we had to make a re-run,” Truex said. “Maybe cost us half a tenth eventually on our tires, but I don’t think it really did anything. So all in all it was good. Just trying to get it all out the last round.

“You’ve got be aggressive. You’ve got to charge and I just overcharged the entry to (Turn) 3 just a hair and lost a little time there, but all in all it was a good day for the Furniture Row Toyota.”

Kyle Larson was fifth fastest with the top Chevrolet in the final round, and Kurt Busch in sixth had the quickest Ford in the session. Austin Dillon, last week’s Coca-Cola 600 winner, qualified ninth, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. nailed down the 11th starting spot to lead the Hendrick Motorsports contingent.

Looking for his 11th victory at the Monster Mile, Jimmie Johnson will start 14th after failing to reach the final round.

“Today was pretty challenging in the practice session trying to find the right balance,” Johnson said. “Just got off a little there. We got it closer for qualifying here, but just not enough speed to transfer.

“We’re trying. Qualifying is very important to us. We’re very aware of that. It is just not suiting us this year. This is my favorite track, and I know come race time we will be just fine.”

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying – AAA 400 Drive for Autism
Dover International Speedway
Dover, Delaware
Friday, June 2, 2017

1. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 158.954 mph.
2. (78) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 158.877 mph.
3. (19) Daniel Suarez #, Toyota, 158.346 mph.
4. (20) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 158.221 mph.
5. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 158.179 mph.
6. (41) Kurt Busch, Ford, 158.144 mph.
7. (77) Erik Jones #, Toyota, 157.680 mph.
8. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 157.384 mph.
9. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 157.109 mph.
10. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 157.034 mph.
11. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 156.270 mph.
12. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 155.999 mph.
13. (31) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 157.646 mph.
14. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 157.542 mph.
15. (21) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 157.446 mph.
16. (24) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 157.336 mph.
17. (6) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 157.295 mph.
18. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 157.260 mph.
19. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 157.157 mph.
20. (5) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 157.013 mph.
21. (13) Ty Dillon #, Chevrolet, 156.740 mph.
22. (14) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 156.672 mph.
23. (27) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 156.447 mph.
24. (47) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 156.420 mph.
25. (32) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 156.406 mph.
26. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 156.236 mph.
27. (34) Landon Cassill, Ford, 156.203 mph.
28. (95) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 156.067 mph.
29. (37) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 155.709 mph.
30. (43) Regan Smith(i), Ford, 155.602 mph.
31. (10) Danica Patrick, Ford, 155.427 mph.
32. (23) Gray Gaulding #, Toyota, 154.712 mph.
33. (38) David Ragan, Ford, 154.586 mph.
34. (83) Ryan Sieg(i), Toyota, 153.100 mph.
35. (72) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 151.924 mph.
36. (15) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 151.656 mph.
37. (66) Timmy Hill(i), Chevrolet, 150.855 mph.
38. (51) Cody Ware, Chevrolet, 150.075 mph.
39. (33) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 149.775 mph.