Ryan Blaney edges Kevin Harvick for Pocono pole

Ryan Blaney, who earned his first win in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series one year ago at Pocono, bolted to the top of the speed chart in the final round of qualifying on Friday to claim the pole for Sunday’s Pocono 400.

Blaney’s average lap speed of 176.897 mph was the fastest lap all day and just topped fellow Ford driver Kevin Harvick (176.807 mph). Jamie McMurray ended up third (176.626 mph).

Martin Truex Jr. was fourth and Kyle Busch, who won the pole in both Pocono races last season, had a close call with the wall during his final round lap and ended up fifth.

The rest of the Top 12 were Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott and Austin Dillon.

The pole is Blaney’s second of the season and fourth of his career.

“It’s nice to be back here at Pocono, it’s been a great track for us, and it’s good to start up front,” Blaney said.

"We made big gains from practice to qualifying and then every round of qualifying. I didn't think we were going to have the speed to contend with Kevin. But we did a great job of making changes to the car. It had the speed in it all along, I just needed to make a clean lap.

Round 2

Harvick completed a sweep of both rounds of qualifying using an average lap speed of 176.236 mph to top the speed chart.

Kyle Busch was second (176.015 mph) and Blaney was third (175.723 mph). Newman was fourth and Elliott completed the top-five.

Also advancing to the final round were Kurt Busch, McMurray, Hamlin, Logano, Bowyer and Austin Dillon.

Among those who failed to advance were Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, Jimmie Johnson, William Byron, Brad Keselowski, Darrell Wallace Jr. and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

“We’re working hard and getting better,” said Johnson, who will line up 15th in Sunday’s race.

Round 1

Harvick led a relatively quiet first 15-minute session of knockout qualifying, posting an average lap speed of 175.950 mph to lead the way.

Larson was second (175.805 mph) and Hamlin was third (175.285 mph). Kurt Busch and Blaney completed the top-five.

Bowyer (seventh) and Elliott (eighth) both went out very late in the session after having issues on their initial attempts but both ended up in the Top 10.

All four Hendrick teams ended up in the Top 12.

Among those who failed to advance were Erik Jones, Matt Kenseth, Chris Buescher, Cole Custer, Ty Dillon and Aric Almirola.

“We were just too free. We didn’t have enough speed to make it to the second round,” Jones said. “If we could go back, we would probably do a second round but I thought we would be fine.”

Almirola got loose on the track during his attempt, which left him with the 34th-fastest lap.

“We had a tire issue and my car was just out of control,” he said. “It’s disappointing but we’ll take it and move on – what else can we do?”

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Time	Gap	Mph
1	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	50.877		176.897
2	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	50.903	0.026	176.807
3	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	50.955	0.078	176.626
4	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	50.987	0.110	176.516
5	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	50.998	0.121	176.478
6	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	51.076	0.199	176.208
7	22	Joey Logano	Ford	51.083	0.206	176.184
8	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	51.176	0.299	175.864
9	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	51.195	0.318	175.798
10	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	51.197	0.320	175.792
11	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	51.361	0.484	175.230
12	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	51.520	0.643	174.689
13	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	51.524	0.647	174.676
14	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	51.579	0.702	174.490
15	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	51.616	0.739	174.365
16	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	51.649	0.772	174.253
17	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	51.661	0.784	174.213
18	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	51.690	0.813	174.115
19	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Chevrolet	51.811	0.934	173.708
20	21	Paul Menard	Ford	51.833	0.956	173.635
21	38	David Ragan	Ford	51.934	1.057	173.297
22	95	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	52.024	1.147	172.997
23	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	52.182	1.305	172.473
24	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet
25	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	52.081	1.204	172.808
26	6	Matt Kenseth	Ford	52.140	1.263	172.612
27	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	52.187	1.310	172.457
28	51	Cole Custer	Chevrolet	52.197	1.320	172.424
29	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	52.658	1.781	170.914
30	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	52.703	1.826	170.768
31	15	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	52.908	2.031	170.107
32	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	53.354	2.477	168.685
33	00	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	53.477	2.600	168.297
34	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	53.855	2.978	167.115
35	72	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	53.882	3.005	167.032
36	23	Gray Gaulding	Toyota	53.927	3.050	166.892
37	7	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	53.935	3.058	166.868
38	99	Derrike Cope	Chevrolet	54.753	3.876	164.375