Ryan Blaney earns first career pole at Kansas

Blaney nudged his Penske teammate Joey Logano by 0.060-seconds with a lap of 189.600mph.

“It feels really good, we got better and better each round and that’s all you could ask,” Blaney said. We’ve been second three times this year and that was getting old.

“This place has always been good for us. Hopefully, we can stay out of trouble for 400 miles.”

Blaney earned the first pole for the Wood Brothers since Ricky Rudd earned the top spot at Talladega Superspeedway in 2004.

Martin Truex Jr. was third quick followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch. 

Shade covered the front stretch as Kurt Busch became the first driver to make a lap in the final five-minute segment. The No. 41 Haas Automation Ford established a speed of 188.495mph.

“Can’t commit to the gas because it’s tight,” Busch told his crew.

The Fords of Logano and Kevin Harvick followed with the No. 22 bumping Busch to second with a lap of 189.540mph. Harvick’s lap of 188.252mph was initially good for third. However, Ryan Blaney knocked Logano to second with his run. After sweeping the first two rounds of qualifying for Saturday’s Go bowling.com 400, Kyle Busch was unable to keep his run going and settled for fifth (188.495mph).

Denny Hamlin, Harvick, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top 12.

“The top through 1 and 2 is not the way to go,” Elliott said after his run.

Round 2

Kyle Busch swept the first two rounds of time trials.

Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray, Denny Hamlin and Austin Dillon transferred to the final round. 

Blaney was the first driver to take a lap in the 10-minute session. He posted a lap of 189.480mph. Kurt Busch, the fourth driver to make a run, posted a lap of 188.679mph, but was knocked down to third-quick by Larson (189.374mph).

Logano, the seventh driver out, bumped Blaney with a speed of 189.520mph. Truex Jr. moved into the fourth fastest lap — 189.301mph. Harvick (190.402mph) went to the top as the 12th car out but was quickly topped by Kyle Busch’s lap of 190.604mph.

Stenhouse, the last car to make his first run in the second round, vaulted up to eighth (188.745mph).

Round 1

At 5:45, when the clock started for time trials, there were only 18 cars on pit road waiting to make a lap.

Only 28 drivers would make attempts while the remaining 11 cars failed to pass pre-qualifying inspection. 

Denny Hamlin was first on the track with just under 10 minutes remaining on the clock. Hamlin posted a lap of 186.310mph. Ryan Blaney followed with a lap of 188.798mph — well over his practice lap of 187.182mph. Kyle Busch, the ninth car out, bumped Blaney with a lap of 190.322mph. Aric Almirola moved up to second (189.235mph). Kyle Larson, the 20th car to take a lap, ended up third with a speed of 189.109mph.

Twenty-three drivers had attempted laps with three minutes on the clock. Kevin Harvick, who had just cleared inspection moments earlier, posted the second-best lap — 190.228mph.

With a minute remaining, Daniel Suarez (22nd), Ty Dillon (23rd) and Hamlin (19th) eased down toward the end of the pit road just in case an insurance lap was necessary. It wasn’t.

Kyle Busch remained on top after the first 20-minute session followed by Harvick, Almirola, Larson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (188.917mph), Blaney, Kurt Busch (188.534mph), Joey Logano (188.390mph), Martin Truex Jr. (188.134mph), and Jamie McMurray (188.042mph).

Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, Paul Menard, Danica Patrick, Austin Dillon, Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth, AJ Allmendinger, Hamlin, Trevor Bayne, Matt DiBenedetto, Suarez, Ty Dillon and Chris Buescher all advanced.

Three of the four Hendrick Motorsports Chevys including Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne and three-time Kansas Speedway winner Jimmie Johnson failed to qualify on Friday.

“This takes all the pressure off of me,” Johnson said.

“There were 28 cars that got it right,” NASCAR competition director Scott Miller told MRN Radio.

Clint Bowyer, who calls Kansas Speedway his home track, was also one of the unfortunate 11 drivers not qualifying on Friday.

“This is just, wow,” Bowyer said. “Super disappointing. You are off ten-thousandths of an inch. It is ridiculous. Most people can’t even understand how little that is. I get it. If you are off, you are off, but I watched my guys move the car and adjust the car accordingly for it and then actually overcompensate on it because we were worried about not making it. Then they wheel it back in and fail the exact same amount? Twice? That makes no sense. None.”

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	1	28.481			189.600
2	22	Joey Logano	Ford	1	28.490	0.009	0.009	189.540
3	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	1	28.541	0.060	0.051	189.201
4	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	1	28.594	0.113	0.053	188.851
5	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	2	28.648	0.167	0.054	188.495
6	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	1	28.648	0.167	0.000	188.495
7	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	1	28.680	0.199	0.032	188.285
8	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	1	28.685	0.204	0.005	188.252
9	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	1	28.731	0.250	0.046	187.950
10	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	1	28.801	0.320	0.070	187.493
11	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	1	28.840	0.359	0.039	187.240
12	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	1	28.895	0.414	0.055	186.884