Clint Bowyer wins Las Vegas pole - his first in 12 years

Clint Bowyer, behind an average lap speed of 178.926 mph, topped his three SHR teammates to win the pole for Sunday’s South Point 400, his first pole since the 2007 season.

The pole is just the third of Bowyer’s career, which spans 14 fulltime seasons in the Cup Series.

“I get to sign my name on some sheet that I don’t think I’ve ever signed before and I’m going to go brag for a little bit,” Bowyer said about winning the pole. “I’m going to rub it in to all these guys. 

“Something’s wrong with them when I beat them to a pole.”

Asked about the prospects for Sunday’s race, Bowyer said: “Tomorrow’s a whole new day. The thing's got to turn left at the end of the straightaway tomorrow and it has to do it for a long time, unlike just one lap today.

“Just timing is everything and we had some good fortune.”

Daniel Suarez ended up second, Kevin Harvick third and Aric Almirola fourth as SHR locked up the first two rows of the field.

Las Vegas native Kurt Busch qualified fifth and is the first non-Ford in the lineup. 

Rounding out the top-10 starters are Daniel Hemric, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Jimmie Johnson and Michael McDowell.

Denny Hamlin was the highest qualifying Toyota driver, and will line up 13th.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Time	Gap	Mph
1	14	Clint Bowyer		Ford	30.180		178.926
2	41	Daniel Suarez		Ford	30.189	0.009	178.873
3	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	30.206	0.026	178.772
4	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	30.252	0.072	178.501
5	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	30.318	0.138	178.112
6	8	Daniel Hemric		Chevrolet	30.366	0.186	177.830
7	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	30.454	0.274	177.317
8	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	30.463	0.283	177.264
9	48	Jimmie Johnson		Chevrolet	30.488	0.308	177.119
10	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	30.490	0.310	177.107
11	38	David Ragan		Ford	30.527	0.347	176.893
12	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Ford	30.531	0.351	176.869
13	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	30.539	0.359	176.823
14	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	30.567	0.387	176.661
15	42	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	30.590	0.410	176.528
16	47	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	30.615	0.435	176.384
17	6	Ryan Newman		Ford	30.618	0.438	176.367
18	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	30.619	0.439	176.361
19	88	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	30.620	0.440	176.355
20	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	30.633	0.453	176.280
21	21	Paul Menard		Ford	30.672	0.492	176.056
22	22	Joey Logano		Ford	30.674	0.494	176.045
23	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	30.706	0.526	175.861
24	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	30.721	0.541	175.776
25	95	Matt DiBenedetto		Toyota	30.726	0.546	175.747
26	20	Erik Jones		Toyota	30.740	0.560	175.667
27	13	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	30.742	0.562	175.655
28	37	Chris Buescher		Chevrolet	30.774	0.594	175.473
29	36	Matt Tifft		Ford	30.808	0.628	175.279
30	00	Landon Cassill		Chevrolet	30.839	0.659	175.103
31	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.		Chevrolet	30.893	0.713	174.797
32	15	Ross Chastain		Chevrolet	31.027	0.847	174.042
33	32	Corey Lajoie		Ford	31.081	0.901	173.740
34	52	Garrett Smithley		Chevrolet	31.411	1.231	171.914
35	51	B.J. McLeod		Chevrolet	31.413	1.233	171.903
36	53	J.J. Yeley		Chevrolet	31.538	1.358	171.222
37	77	Reed Sorenson		Chevrolet	31.752	1.572	170.068
38	27	Joe Nemechek		Chevrolet	32.070	1.890	168.382
39	66	Joey Gase		Toyota	32.086	1.906	168.298