Qualifying report
NASCAR Cup Phoenix II
Kevin Harvick rebounds with Phoenix pole over Chase Elliott
Kevin Harvick couldn’t have bounced back any better.
Jim Utter
Edited: Nov 10, 2018, 1:08 AM
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Without his crew chief and car chief for the final two races of the season following a NASCAR penalty this week, Harvick save the fastest lap of the day for the final session of Friday’s qualifying.
Harvick’s average lap speed of 139.340 mph topped Chase Elliott (139.152 mph) and handed him the pole for Sunday’s Can-Am 500 at ISM Raceway near Phoenix.
Harvick had won last weekend’s race at Texas and earned an automatic berth in the Championship 4 but lost that privilege as part of the penalty. He was also stripped of 40 points.
It is still possible for Harvick to advance on points to Homestead but it will be more difficult. Winning Sunday’s race will again lock Harvick into the Championship 4.
“It’s pretty awesome to see a group of people to come together to fill the gap during the suspensions,” Harvick said. “Like I told them over the radio, everybody on this (team) has been there before and we know what we need to do.
“This is a great race track for us. I really wasn’t expecting that – our cars are usually a lot better in race trim than qualifying trim. I just got fortunate to hit a good lap there and it came at a good time.”
Told some would say the wrestler comes out in these situations when he’s back into a corner, Harvick said, “I don’t need to tell you about it, you can look at the scoreboard.”
The pole is Harvick’s fourth of the season and 25th of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was third, Ryan Blaney fourth and Alex Bowman completed the top-five.
Rounding out the Top 12 starters are Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Paul Menard and Brad Keselowski.
Round 2
Elliott went out early and led the way in the second round with an average lap speed of 139.411 mph – the fastest lap made on the track to this point on Friday.
Larson ended up second (139.066 mph) and Kyle Busch was third (139.055 mph). Hamlin and Menard completed the top-five.
Also advancing to the final round were Bowman, Jones, Harvick, Blaney, Stenhouse, Keselowski and Logano.
Among those failing to advance were Martin Truex Jr., who got knocked out in the final 30 seconds by Keselowski; Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer, Matt Kenseth, Aric Almirola, Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman.
“It wasn’t bad,” Bowyer said. “We’ll be alright. We just need a good day tomorrow in practice and we’ll go off on Sunday.”
Round 1
Kenseth ended up the surprise leader of the first 15-minute qualifying session with an average lap speed of 138.313 mph.
Austin Dillon was second (137.936 mph) and Harvick was third (137.625 mph). Kurt Busch was fourth and Kyle Busch ended up fifth.
Rounding out the Top 10 were Stenhouse, Logano, Byron, Keselowski and Jones. Jones had been fastest in Friday’s only practice session.
It took four tries for Truex’s No. 78 Toyota to clear pre-qualifying inspection on Friday, which resulted in the ejection of his car chief for the remainder of the weekend.
Truex finally made it on the track with time to spare and posted the 21st-fastest speed.
Among those who failed to advance to the final round were Chris Buescher, Daniel Suarez, Ty Dillon, Darrell Wallace Jr. and David Ragan.
Cla # Driver 4506 Time Gap Mph 1 4 
Kevin Harvick Ford 25.836 139.340 2 9 
Chase Elliott Chevrolet 25.871 0.035 139.152 3 17 
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 25.898 0.062 139.007 4 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 25.924 0.088 138.867 5 88 
Alex Bowman Chevrolet 25.948 0.112 138.739 6 18 
Kyle Busch Toyota 25.954 0.118 138.707 7 20 
Erik Jones Toyota 26.022 0.186 138.344 8 42 
Kyle Larson Chevrolet 26.038 0.202 138.259 9 22 Joey Logano Ford 26.039 0.203 138.254 10 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 26.040 0.204 138.249 11 21 
Paul Menard Ford 26.108 0.272 137.889 12 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 26.150 0.314 137.667 13 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 26.023 0.187 138.339 14 41 Kurt Busch Ford 26.053 0.217 138.180 15 3 
Austin Dillon Chevrolet 26.074 0.238 138.069 16 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 26.110 0.274 137.878 17 6 Matt Kenseth Ford 26.131 0.295 137.767 18 10 Aric Almirola Ford 26.140 0.304 137.720 19 24 William Byron Chevrolet 26.162 0.326 137.604 20 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 26.174 0.338 137.541 21 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 26.176 0.340 137.531 22 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 26.212 0.376 137.342 23 34 Michael McDowell Ford 26.313 0.477 136.815 24 47 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 26.368 0.532 136.529 25 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 26.342 0.506 136.664 26 19 
Daniel Suarez Toyota 26.368 0.532 136.529 27 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 26.487 0.651 135.916 28 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 26.516 0.680 135.767 29 95 Regan Smith Chevrolet 26.539 0.703 135.649 30 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 26.560 0.724 135.542 31 38 David Ragan Ford 26.614 0.778 135.267 32 00 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 26.834 0.998 134.158 33 15 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 26.970 1.134 133.482 34 72 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 27.001 1.165 133.328 35 23 J.J. Yeley Toyota 27.010 1.174 133.284 36 97 Tanner Berryhill Toyota 27.231 1.395 132.202 37 66 Timmy Hill Toyota 27.457 1.621 131.114 38 7 
D.J. Kennington Chevrolet 27.666 1.830 130.124 39 51 Cody Ware Ford
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