Qualifying report
NASCAR Cup
Kyle Larson edges Chase Elliott for Bristol pole
Kyle Larson left little doubt he has the speed to contend for his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
Jim Utter
Edited: Sep 6, 2018, 8:53 AM
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Larson ended up fastest in all three rounds of Friday’s knockout qualifying, using an average lap speed of 127.792 mph to win the pole for Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops 500.
The pole is his third of the year, seventh of his career and first at Bristol. Larson started first in the 2017 spring race at Bristol but the field was set by owner points when qualifying was rained out.
"It's always good to qualify well but this is my favorite race track so it's nice to start out front and hopefully we can lead a lot of laps tomorrow and finally close on of these things out," Larson said.
"I've been close so many times. I feel like I've ran second or third and led the most laps here so many times. Hopefully this is the weekend that we can close it out. I feel like I have two really good cars, both for the Xfintiy Series and here tomorrow as well."
Larson’s previous best finish at Bristol in nine starts was second in this year’s spring race.
Chase Elliott ended up second (127.665 mph) and Kyle Busch – who won the spring race – was third (127.639 mph). Paul Menard was fourth and rookie William Byron completed the top-five.
"You have to be really close to perfect, if not perfect here," Elliott said. It's so hard to be good for 500 laps, but that's what it takes. I really wanted that first pit box, that makes such a huge difference here. If there's any place that makes a difference, it's here."
Rounding out the Top 12 starters are Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Cla # Driver 4506 Laps Time Gap Interval Mph 1 42 
Kyle Larson Chevrolet 3 15.015 127.792 2 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 3 15.030 0.015 0.015 127.665 3 18 
Kyle Busch Toyota 4 15.033 0.018 0.003 127.639 4 21 
Paul Menard Ford 4 15.037 0.022 0.004 127.605 5 24 
William Byron Chevrolet 5 15.043 0.028 0.006 127.554 6 4 
Kevin Harvick Ford 3 15.104 0.089 0.061 127.039 7 11 
Denny Hamlin Toyota 3 15.121 0.106 0.017 126.896 8 10 
Aric Almirola Ford 3 15.123 0.108 0.002 126.880 9 41 Kurt Busch Ford 3 15.125 0.110 0.002 126.863 10 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 4 15.137 0.122 0.012 126.762 11 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 5 15.198 0.183 0.061 126.253 12 17 
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 4 15.230 0.215 0.032 125.988
Round 2
Larson was the first car on the track in the second round but didn’t begin his lap until just under four minutes remained in the session.
He still ended up with the fastest average lap of the session, coming in at 127.631 mph. Menard was second (127.123 mph) and Kyle Busch was third (126.972 mph). Keselowski and Hamlin completed the top-five.
Also advancing to the final round were Elliott, Kurt Busch, Harvick, Blaney, Byron, Almirola and Stenhouse.
“I lost all kinds of grip with the right front,” Stenhouse said over his team radio following his run.
Among those who failed to advance were Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Erik Jones, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano and Alex Bowman, who tagged the wall during his qualifying run.
“We were really fast in the first round and it just didn’t transfer over to the second round,” Jones said. “We’ll have some cars to pass tomorrow night. We’ll work from behind but I think we’ll be fine.”
Cla # Driver 4506 Laps Time Gap Interval Mph 1 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 3 15.034 127.631 2 21 Paul Menard Ford 2 15.094 0.060 0.060 127.123 3 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 4 15.112 0.078 0.018 126.972 4 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 4 15.125 0.091 0.013 126.863 5 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 2 15.131 0.097 0.006 126.813 6 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 2 15.135 0.101 0.004 126.779 7 41 Kurt Busch Ford 3 15.138 0.104 0.003 126.754 8 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 3 15.146 0.112 0.008 126.687 9 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 4 15.154 0.120 0.008 126.620 10 24 William Byron Chevrolet 3 15.225 0.191 0.071 126.030 11 10 
Aric Almirola Ford 4 15.226 0.192 0.001 126.021 12 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 3 15.237 0.203 0.011 125.930 13 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 6 15.238 0.204 0.001 125.922 14 20 Erik Jones Toyota 3 15.246 0.212 0.008 125.856 15 38 David Ragan Ford 5 15.266 0.232 0.020 125.691 16 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 4 15.268 0.234 0.002 125.675 17 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 4 15.271 0.237 0.003 125.650 18 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 3 15.278 0.244 0.007 125.592 19 22 Joey Logano Ford 4 15.294 0.260 0.016 125.461 20 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 4 15.301 0.267 0.007 125.404 21 19 
Daniel Suarez Toyota 4 15.306 0.272 0.005 125.363 22 88 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 4 15.336 0.302 0.030 125.117 23 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 5 15.342 0.308 0.006 125.068 24 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 4 15.431 0.397 0.089 124.347
Round 1
Larson set a blistering pace in the first round and his average lap speed of 127.946 mph was the fastest lap run so far on Friday.
Elliott ended up second (127.098 mph) and Blaney third (126.955 mph). Stenhouse and Suarez completed the top-five.
Rounding out the Top 10 were Johnson, Jones, McMurray, Hamlin and Bayne.
Among those who failed to advance to Round 2 were A.J. Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, Kasey Kahne, Darrell Wallace Jr. and Ty Dillon.
“It was good on the bottom and we were able to run some good laps up top. We’ll get some speed going and get some momentum and try to keep moving forward,” Buescher said.
“We have something I feel like we can move around. The PJ1 ran out real quickly. Just trying to figure out how to get more qualifying speed. I think our race speed is good.”
Most of the cars waited until there was just over seven minutes left in the 15-minute first round before they ventured out on the track to make their qualifying runs.
Cla # Driver 4506 Laps Time Gap Interval Mph 1 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 2 14.997 127.946 2 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 2 15.097 0.100 0.100 127.098 3 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 2 15.114 0.117 0.017 126.955 4 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 2 15.126 0.129 0.012 126.854 5 19 
Daniel Suarez Toyota 2 15.130 0.133 0.004 126.821 6 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 3 15.138 0.141 0.008 126.754 7 20 Erik Jones Toyota 2 15.170 0.173 0.032 126.486 8 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 2 15.205 0.208 0.035 126.195 9 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 5 15.233 0.236 0.028 125.963 10 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 4 15.238 0.241 0.005 125.922 11 10 Aric Almirola Ford 2 15.239 0.242 0.001 125.914 12 41 Kurt Busch Ford 2 15.241 0.244 0.002 125.897 13 24 William Byron Chevrolet 3 15.252 0.255 0.011 125.806 14 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 3 15.259 0.262 0.007 125.749 15 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 2 15.261 0.264 0.002 125.732 16 88 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 2 15.262 0.265 0.001 125.724 17 22 Joey Logano Ford 2 15.264 0.267 0.002 125.708 18 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 3 15.272 0.275 0.008 125.642 19 38 David Ragan Ford 5 15.278 0.281 0.006 125.592 20 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 3 15.279 0.282 0.001 125.584 21 21 Paul Menard Ford 2 15.281 0.284 0.002 125.568 22 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 5 15.290 0.293 0.009 125.494 23 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 6 15.294 0.297 0.004 125.461 24 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 7 15.308 0.311 0.014 125.346 25 47 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 3 15.363 0.366 0.055 124.897 26 95 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 6 15.426 0.429 0.063 124.387 27 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 8 15.435 0.438 0.009 124.315 28 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 4 15.448 0.451 0.013 124.210 29 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 5 15.466 0.469 0.018 124.066 30 72 Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 3 15.482 0.485 0.016 123.937 31 34 Michael McDowell Ford 4 15.514 0.517 0.032 123.682 32 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 8 15.567 0.570 0.053 123.261 33 96 Jesse Little Toyota 4 15.688 0.691 0.121 122.310 34 7 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 7 15.754 0.757 0.066 121.798 35 15 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 4 15.758 0.761 0.004 121.767 36 51 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 3 15.822 0.825 0.064 121.274 37 66 Timmy Hill Toyota 12 15.882 0.885 0.060 120.816 38 99 Gray Gaulding Chevrolet 12 15.899 0.902 0.017 120.687 39 00 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 7 15.936 0.939 0.037 120.407 40 23 Jones Blake Toyota 9 16.101 1.104 0.165 119.173 41 52 B.J. McLeod Chevrolet 12 15.909 0.912 120.611
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