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Australia
Qualifying report

Larson scores fourth pole of the season in New Hampshire

A NASCAR penalty hasn’t slowed down Kyle Larson.

Polesitter Kyle Larson, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet

Polesitter Kyle Larson, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet

NASCAR Media

Polesitter Kyle Larson, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
Aric Almirola, Richard Petty Motorsports Ford
Kyle Larson, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Martin Truex Jr., Furniture Row Racing Toyota
Joey Logano, Team Penske Ford
Kyle Larson, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Adam Stevens
Matt Kenseth, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

NOTE: Kyle Larson's qualifying time has been disallowed. Martin Truex Jr. is the new pole-sitter. CLICK HERE for more.

Larson, who lost the series points lead and his crew chief for three weeks courtesy of a NASCAR infraction this week, rocketed to his fourth pole of the 2017 Monster Energy Cup Series season at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

"Our Target Chevy has been really fast all day. It has a lot of speed. Like I really don’t have to drive that hard and it just makes a lot of speed. So, that is good," Larson said. "We are missing Chad (Johnston, crew chief) this weekend and for the next couple of weeks, so good to rebound with a pole. That is pretty strong out of our organization.

"It’s been so much fun this year. I have never really been a great qualifier, but this is our fourth pole of the season. Hopefully, we can keep it going and figure out where our car works best in the VHT or PJ1 or whatever they are calling it this weekend and hope we have a good race on Sunday.”

Larson was fastest in all three rounds on Friday and claimed the pole for Sunday’s Overton’s 301 with an average lap speed of 133.324 mph, just edging Martin Truex Jr. (133.077 mph).

The pole is Larson’s fifth of his career and it will be the sixth time this season he’s started a race from the No. 1 starting position thanks to a pair of qualifying rainouts.

Jimmie Johnson will start third, Matt Kenseth fourth and Larson’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Jamie McMurray, lines up fifth.

Rounding out the top 12: Kasey Kahne, Erik Jones, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott.

Round 2

Larson easily topped Kyle Busch to lead the second 10-minute session, with an average lap speed of 133.436 mph. Busch’s best lap came in at 132.706 mph.

Jones was third-fastest, Truex was fourth and McMurray fifth.

Also advancing to the final round were Kahne, Johnson, Hamlin, Kenseth, Elliott, Keselowski and Kurt Busch.

Kahne posted the sixth-fastest speed just as time expired, which knock Kevin Harvick out of the Top 12. He will start 13th on Sunday.

“Our car has just been really loose. Qualifying trim has definitely been a handful,” Harvick said. “I don’t think we would have done one or two spots better in the final round.”

Among the others failing to advance were Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Although he did not advance to the final round, Matt DiBenedetto posted the 17th fastest speed in the second round, which is his best qualifying effort of the 2017 season.

Round 1

Larson, who was fastest in Friday’s lone practice session, showed the way in the first 20-minute session with an average lap speed of 133.189 mph.

Erik Jones (132.172 mph) ended up second, McMurray was third, Elliott fourth and Keselowski fifth.

Among those who failed to advance to Round 2 were Ryan Newman, Ty Dillon, Austin Dillon, Paul Menard, Danica Patrick and Trevor Bayne.

“Man, it was just slick. The track was getting better if you were patient,” Bayne said. “We’ll be alright. It’s tough to pass here, but we’ll get it going.”

Because of unusually cooler temperatures on Friday, most drivers went out briefly to scuff their tires and get some heat in their brakes before they actually began their qualifying attempts.

There was one incident in the opening round as David Ragan spun while exiting pit road, which caused a brief delay as debris was cleaned from the track.

Although several cars had not cleared inspection prior to the start of the session, every driver eventually made it on the track to complete a qualifying attempt.

Cla#DriverManufacturerTimeGapMph
1 42 united_states Kyle Larson  Chevrolet 28.568   133.324
2 78 united_states Martin Truex Jr.  Toyota 28.621 0.053 133.077
3 48 united_states Jimmie Johnson  Chevrolet 28.705 0.137 132.200
4 20 united_states Matt Kenseth  Toyota 28.784 0.216 132.154
5 1 united_states Jamie McMurray  Chevrolet 28.839 0.271 132.071
6 5 united_states Kasey Kahne  Chevrolet 28.847 0.279 131.506
7 77 united_states Erik Jones  Toyota 28.854 0.286 130.456
8 18 united_states Kyle Busch  Toyota 28.862 0.294 130.954
9 11 united_states Denny Hamlin  Toyota 28.920 0.352 131.234
10 41 united_states Kurt Busch  Ford 28.922 0.354 131.660
11 2 united_states Brad Keselowski  Ford 28.963 0.395 131.506
12 24 united_states Chase Elliott  Chevrolet 29.020 0.452 131.247
13 4 united_states Kevin Harvick  Ford 28.897 0.329 131.806
14 22 united_states Joey Logano  Ford 28.931 0.363 131.157
15 19 mexico Daniel Suarez  Toyota 28.953 0.385 131.551
16 21 united_states Ryan Blaney  Ford 28.997 0.429 131.352
17 32 united_states Matt DiBenedetto  Ford 29.009 0.441 131.297
18 17 united_states Ricky Stenhouse Jr.  Ford 29.015 0.447 130.483
19 88 united_states Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Chevrolet 29.029 0.461 130.685
20 14 united_states Clint Bowyer  Ford 29.122 0.554 130.788
21 95 united_states Michael McDowell  Chevrolet 29.133 0.565 130.738
22 43 united_states Aric Almirola  Ford 29.173 0.605 130.501
23 37 united_states Chris Buescher  Chevrolet 29.248 0.680 130.224
24 47 united_states A.J. Allmendinger  Chevrolet 29.315 0.747 129.147
25 31 united_states Ryan Newman  Chevrolet 29.179 0.611 130.532
26 13 united_states Ty Dillon  Chevrolet 29.210 0.642 130.251
27 3 united_states Austin Dillon  Chevrolet 29.219 0.651 130.055
28 6 united_states Trevor Bayne  Ford 29.234 0.666 130.287
29 34 united_states Landon Cassill  Ford 29.280 0.712 130.082
30 27 united_states Paul Menard  Chevrolet 29.281 0.713 127.385
31 10 united_states Danica Patrick  Ford 29.436 0.868 129.393
32 23 united_states Corey Lajoie  Toyota 29.452 0.884 129.322
33 38 united_states David Ragan  Ford 29.459 0.891 129.292
34 72 united_states Cole Whitt  Chevrolet 29.526 0.958 128.247
35 55 united_states Gray Gaulding  Toyota 29.748 1.180 126.770
36 15 united_states Reed Sorenson  Chevrolet 29.819 1.251 127.731
37 83 united_states Ryan Sieg  Toyota 29.931 1.363 126.027
38 33 united_states Jeffrey Earnhardt  Chevrolet 29.966 1.398 127.104
39 51 united_states Josh Bilicki  Chevrolet 30.677 2.109 124.158

 

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