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
NASCAR Media
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 | # | Driver | Manufacturer | Time | Gap | Mph |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 28.568 | 133.324 | |
2 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 28.621 | 0.053 | 133.077 |
3 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 28.705 | 0.137 | 132.200 |
4 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Toyota | 28.784 | 0.216 | 132.154 |
5 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 28.839 | 0.271 | 132.071 |
6 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | 28.847 | 0.279 | 131.506 |
7 | 77 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 28.854 | 0.286 | 130.456 |
8 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 28.862 | 0.294 | 130.954 |
9 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 28.920 | 0.352 | 131.234 |
10 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 28.922 | 0.354 | 131.660 |
11 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 28.963 | 0.395 | 131.506 |
12 | 24 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 29.020 | 0.452 | 131.247 |
13 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 28.897 | 0.329 | 131.806 |
14 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 28.931 | 0.363 | 131.157 |
15 | 19 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 28.953 | 0.385 | 131.551 |
16 | 21 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 28.997 | 0.429 | 131.352 |
17 | 32 | Matt DiBenedetto | Ford | 29.009 | 0.441 | 131.297 |
18 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 29.015 | 0.447 | 130.483 |
19 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | 29.029 | 0.461 | 130.685 |
20 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 29.122 | 0.554 | 130.788 |
21 | 95 | Michael McDowell | Chevrolet | 29.133 | 0.565 | 130.738 |
22 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 29.173 | 0.605 | 130.501 |
23 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevrolet | 29.248 | 0.680 | 130.224 |
24 | 47 | A.J. Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 29.315 | 0.747 | 129.147 |
25 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 29.179 | 0.611 | 130.532 |
26 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 29.210 | 0.642 | 130.251 |
27 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 29.219 | 0.651 | 130.055 |
28 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 29.234 | 0.666 | 130.287 |
29 | 34 | Landon Cassill | Ford | 29.280 | 0.712 | 130.082 |
30 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | 29.281 | 0.713 | 127.385 |
31 | 10 | Danica Patrick | Ford | 29.436 | 0.868 | 129.393 |
32 | 23 | Corey Lajoie | Toyota | 29.452 | 0.884 | 129.322 |
33 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 29.459 | 0.891 | 129.292 |
34 | 72 | Cole Whitt | Chevrolet | 29.526 | 0.958 | 128.247 |
35 | 55 | Gray Gaulding | Toyota | 29.748 | 1.180 | 126.770 |
36 | 15 | Reed Sorenson | Chevrolet | 29.819 | 1.251 | 127.731 |
37 | 83 | Ryan Sieg | Toyota | 29.931 | 1.363 | 126.027 |
38 | 33 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Chevrolet | 29.966 | 1.398 | 127.104 |
39 | 51 | Josh Bilicki | Chevrolet | 30.677 | 2.109 | 124.158 |
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments