Kyle Busch tops Clint Bowyer for Martinsville Cup pole

Running multiple laps in the final five-minute round of knockout qualifying on Saturday, Busch was able to knock Clint Bowyer from the top spot and won the pole for Sunday’s First Data 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

Busch ended up with an average lap speed of 96.254 mph, which was the fastest lap recorded all day.

“We’ve been good here that last couple of years and especially this time of year,” said Busch, who used a victory in this race one year ago to lock himself in the Championship 4 at Homestead, Fla.

“We’ve had good speed since we’ve been here. We’ve just been trying to fine-tune the balance to get that much better. We were close in the spring – we were second-best. We want to be first-best, though, and automatically advance through.”

The pole is Busch’s fourth of the year and 31st of his career.

Bowyer was second (96.122 mph) and Denny Hamlin third (96.112 mph). Ryan Blaney and Aric Almirola completed the top-five.

Rounding out the Top 12 starters are Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano and William Byron.

Round 2

Kurt Busch led the way in the 10-minute second round with an average lap speed of 96.161 mph.

Kyle Busch ended up second (96.068 mph) and Hamlin was third (96.049 mph). Bowyer and Almirola completed the top-five.

Also advancing to the final round were Suarez, Larson, Truex, Blaney, Byron, Keselowski and Logano.

Logano went out very late in the session and knocked playoff driver Kevin Harvick out of the Top 12. He will line up 13th in Sunday’s race.

Also failing to advance to the final round were three members of Hendrick Motorsports – Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott and Jimmie Johnson. Elliott will line up 21st on Sunday, lowest of the eight remaining playoff drivers.

Elliott has won two races in the playoffs so far, including last weekend at Kansas Speedway.

Round 1

Blaney had the fastest average speed in the first round as Fords swept the top-five positions.

Blaney’s lap at 96.317 mph just edged Bowyer (96.151 mph). Almirola was third (96.039 mph), Kurt Busch fourth and Logano completed the top-five.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Hamlin, McMurray, A.J. Allmendinger, Larson and Ryan Newman.

Among those who failed to advance to the second round were Ross Chastain, Matt Kenseth, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon and Darrell Wallace Jr.

Just over eight minutes into the first round, Wallace spun entering Turn 3 and slammed into the Turn 4 wall, doing significant damage to the No. 43 Chevrolet.

Wallace’s Richard Petty Motorsports team immediately brought out its backup car, which means Wallace will have to start from the rear of the field in Sunday’s race.

Cla	#	Driver	4506	Time	Gap	Mph
1	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	19.673		96.254
2	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	19.700	0.027	96.122
3	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	19.702	0.029	96.112
4	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	19.706	0.033	96.093
5	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	19.713	0.040	96.058
6	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	19.739	0.066	95.932
7	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	19.749	0.076	95.883
8	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	19.770	0.097	95.781
9	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	19.786	0.113	95.704
10	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	19.806	0.133	95.607
11	22	Joey Logano	Ford	19.825	0.152	95.516
12	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	19.877	0.204	95.266
13	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	19.822	0.149	95.530
14	38	David Ragan	Ford	19.834	0.161	95.472
15	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	19.840	0.167	95.444
16	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	19.842	0.169	95.434
17	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	19.859	0.186	95.352
18	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	19.865	0.192	95.323
19	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	19.889	0.216	95.208
20	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	19.894	0.221	95.184
21	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	19.902	0.229	95.146
22	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	19.915	0.242	95.084
23	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	19.916	0.243	95.079
24	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	19.927	0.254	95.027
25	15	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	19.898	0.225	95.165
26	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	19.905	0.232	95.132
27	6	Matt Kenseth	Ford	19.913	0.240	95.094
28	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	19.916	0.243	95.079
29	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	19.918	0.245	95.070
30	95	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	19.941	0.268	94.960
31	72	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	20.057	0.384	94.411
32	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Chevrolet	20.062	0.389	94.387
33	96	D.J. Kennington	Toyota	20.162	0.489	93.919
34	23	J.J. Yeley	Toyota	20.205	0.532	93.719
35	00	Joey Gase	Chevrolet	20.342	0.669	93.088
36	51	Jeb Burton	Ford	20.388	0.715	92.878
37	66	Timmy Hill	Toyota	20.432	0.759	92.678
38	7	Hermie Sadler	Chevrolet	20.472	0.799	92.497
39	21	Paul Menard	Ford	21.040	1.367	90.000
40	99	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet