Kyle Busch edges Ryan Newman for Atlanta Cup pole

Kyle Busch earned his 28th-career Cup pole on Friday and his first at Atlanta Motor Speedway. 

Busch posted a time of 30.024 to beat Ryan Newman for the top spot by .038-seconds.

“Just a great day,” Busch said. “That’s a great achievement for our team today. Hopefully, that bodes well for Sunday.”

Kevin Harvick will start third in the Fold of Honors QuikTrip 500 followed by Daniel Suarez, Brad Keselowski, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kurt Busch, Kyle Larson, Clint Bowyer and  Erik Jones.

Once again, Harvick was the first car on the track for the five-minute session. He established a time of 184.376mph. Stenhouse was second, Kurt Busch third. Keselowski bumped Stenhouse to third with a lap of (183.850mph).

Newman, the fifth driver to take a lap, bounced Harvick to second with a speed of 184.419mph. Suarez’s lap of 184.211 was third quick of eight drivers. Larson’s attempt was only good enough for seventh. 

Kyle Busch, the 10th driver out, vaulted to the top with a lap of 184.652mph. 

Only 10 drivers made attempts with Aric Almirola and Denny Hamlin begging off. 

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	1	30.024			184.652
2	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	1	30.062	0.038	0.038	184.419
3	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	1	30.067	0.043	0.005	184.388
4	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	1	30.093	0.069	0.026	184.229
5	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	1	30.154	0.130	0.061	183.856
6	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	1	30.176	0.152	0.022	183.722
7	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	1	30.215	0.191	0.039	183.485
8	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	1	30.221	0.197	0.006	183.449
9	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	1	30.414	0.390	0.193	182.284
10	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	1	30.621	0.597	0.207	181.052
11	10	Aric Almirola	Ford		0.000			0.000
12	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota		0.000			0.000

Round 2

Harvick was the first driver out in the second round and established the fast lap of 184.529mph. His teammate Kurt Busch was second with a lap of 183.850mph, but was quickly bumped by Keselowski and then Suarez.

With five minutes to go, Kyle Busch posted the fifth-fastest lap. Stenhouse, Newman, Bowyer, McMurray, Kahne and Logano held onto the top 12. Larson vaulted up to third with a lap of 184.180mph with under four minutes to go. Almirola’s laps was 10th-quick. Menard was the next driver out but posted the 14th-quick time (30.384-seconds). 

As time ran out on the clock, Hamlin bumped McMurray out of the top 12 with a lap of 182.952mph. 

“Just lost the line,” Hamlin said.

Harvick, Suarez, Larson, Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Stenhouse, Newman, Almirola, Bowyer, Jones and Hamlin transferred to the third round.

Round 1

Martin Truex Jr. never took to the track for qualifying on Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The No. 78 Furniture Row Racing failed Hawk-Eye inspection station three times. Under the at-track deterrence model, car chief Blake Harris ejected from the race track. 

Brad Keselowski set the quick pace with a lap of 186.434mph which held up for the top speed followed by Harvick, Bowyer, Larson and McMurray. The Ganassi drivers posted the identical speed—184.646mph.

Stenhouse, who was the third driver on the track, grazed the wall coming out of Turn 4. Eight minutes into the session, Keselowski, Harvick, McMurray, Suarez and William Byron had the top five speeds.

“I don’t know what more I could do there, just really loose,” Hamlin said after posting the 16th quick time. 

With just over seven minutes remaining, Bowyer bounced up to fourth followed by Larson. Bubba Wallace was 19th-quick on his first run and bumped Ty Dillon out of the top 24. Paul Menard was 12th-fastest and knocked out Chase Elliott. The Hendrick Chevys of Alex Bowman and Jimmie Johnson ran 13th and 14th, respectively. Johnson went through inspection twice before coming to the grid. 

Michael McDowell, the 34th car to take a lap, bounced Hamlin from the top 24. Hamlin made a second attempt and knocked Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon off the bubble. Dillon will start 25th on Sunday. Chase Elliott and Ty Dillon also made a second run but to no avail.

“I don’t really have much of an excuse for it,” Elliott said. “We just didn’t hit it right.”