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Race Central NASCAR Cup Series news and information

Harvick Scores Sixth Win of 2018 at Loudon

In a race that appeared to be in Aric Almirola’s hands in the final 45 laps, a late caution in the Foxwoods 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway essentially set up a finish between two of the top three title favorites.

Aggression prevailed on a day where rain seemingly encompassed the 1.058-mile speedway. Finally getting the green flag around 4:25 p.m. ET, pole-sitter Kurt Busch appeared to be the early race favorite.

Leading 94 of 301 laps, Busch’s bid for the win was derailed by a near crash on pit road with fellow Ford racer Ryan Blaney.

Meanwhile, Almirola’s car came to life during a long green flag run, taking the top spot within the final 50 laps before Clint Bowyer crashed into the wall between Turns 3 and 4. Consequently, the final pit stop proved costly for Almirola.

On the other hand, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick suddenly found themselves with a chance to score the win. During the final 10 laps, Kyle Busch’s advantage over a hard-charging Harvick evaporated like the rain at Loudon. Both past Cup champions navigated the high line at Loudon, not wanting to give an inch to each other.

With five laps to go, Harvick decided to use the chrome horn on Busch, rooting the Las Vegas native from the top spot in turn two. While Busch saved his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota from the wall, Harvick piloted his No. 4 Busch Beer Ford to his sixth win of the 2018 season.

To say the least, the Bakersfield, California native relished his late race move at “The Magic Mile,” living up to his moniker as “The Closer.”

“I just didn’t know if I was going to get there again,” Harvick said. “It felt like that was my best opportunity to do what I had to do to win. I didn’t want to wreck him but I didn’t want to waste a bunch of time behind him.”

Despite scoring wins at Atlanta, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Dover, and Kansas, Harvick’s focus on a second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title has been precise. On the other hand, the grizzled veteran noted how Loudon, Pocono, and Watkins Glen were tracks he hoped to improve on given his dominant regular season.

“Winning is important,” Harvick remarked. “You’ve got to take every opportunity you can. My car was better in the lane I needed to be in and as you get to the end there, you need to be aggressive.”

While Harvick, Busch, and Almirola earned podium finishes, Martin Truex Jr, Chase Elliott, Ryan Newman, Ryan Blaney, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top-10.

Following a weekend in the Granite State, the premier division treks down to Pocono Raceway for the Gander Outdoor 400, where Kyle Busch looks to repeat his victory from last year. Round 21 of the season goes green shortly after 2:50 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

July 22, 2018
Start time for Monster Energy Series race at New Hampshire moved up

Staff Report | NASCAR.com

UPDATE: Green flag set for 4:15 p.m. ET after delay at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

NASCAR and track officials have moved up the start time for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to 1 p.m. ET (NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) because of the potential of wet weather.

The Monster Energy Series race was originally set for 2 p.m. ET. That start time — and all pre-race ceremonies — have been moved up to one hour earlier.

Officials reached that decision Saturday morning, faced with a chance of precipitation in the race-day forecast at the 1.058-mile track.

Kurt Busch will start on the pole for the race while Martin Truex Jr. rolls off second. Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney round out the top five starters.

RELATED: Starting Lineup

July 21, 2018
Kurt Busch lands Busch pole award at New Hampshire

Staff Report | NASCAR.com

LOUDON, N.H. — Early bird Kurt Busch ran his best lap of the day in the final round of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series knockout qualifying at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to earn the top starting spot for Sunday’s Foxwoods 301 (2 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The first driver on the track for decisive Round 3, Busch covered the one-mile distance in 28.511 seconds (133.591 mph) to edge reigning series champion Martin Turex Jr. by .019 seconds. Truex will start from the front row for the seventh time this season.

“I don’t want to second-guess anything, so when the crew chief (Billy Scott) says ‘Go,’ you just go,” said Busch, who won his first Busch Pole Award in 35 races at the Magic Mile, his third of the season and the 25th of his career. “I like the way we made the right changes through each of the rounds, and we stuck to a game plan.

“That’s exactly what you hope to have each time you go to qualifying, where you don’t have to deviate away from the plan you set in place.”

In fact, the three rounds of qualifying for Busch followed a script that had been written before the first round began.

“We discussed it, and the call was made back at the hauler before the qualifying session started,” Busch said. “It was almost like a non-discussion. It was, ‘This is what’s going to happen in Round 1, this is what’s going to happen in Round 2, and here’s what’s going to happen in Round 3’—and we stuck to our plan.”

Truex felt he lost what could have been a pole-winning run in the first corner.

“I just missed Turn 1 just slightly there in that last run on the first lap, but overall it was a solid day,” Truex said. “We had a decent practice – a short practice, you know, because we waited a little bit for the VHT (traction compound) to kind of get run in, and we went out there and ran and were probably a little bit off further on balance more than we needed to be at the end of practice.

“So made some changes for qualifying, and the guys did a good job of getting it right and we were close. So couple thousandths, a few inches here or there in a different spot on the race track and might have been able to make it up, but a solid effort for us, and we can go get them on Sunday from second.”

Led by his brother, Kyle Busch, Toyota drivers occupied the top five positions in Round 2, but Kurt Busch broke the monopoly in the round that counted in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Kyle Busch ended up third, followed by Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, as Camry drivers claimed positions two through four on the grid.

Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman earned the eighth starting position in the fastest Chevrolet.

“To come here and qualify a solid top 10 means the car is probably a whole lot better than that, which is a good thing for me come Sunday,” said Bowman, who entered this race weekend with an average starting position at Loudon of 30.8 and previous best qualifying effort of 18^th.

With Erik Jones earning the seventh position and Daniel Suarez qualifying ninth, JGR drivers placed all four cars in the top 10. Surprisingly, Busch was the only Stewart Haas driver to make the cut for the 12-driver final round.

The Team Penske Fords of Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski will start fifth and sixth, respectively, on Sunday.

RELATED: Qualifying results

July 20, 2018
Full schedule for Eldora and New Hampshire

Staff Report | NASCAR.com

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series will all be in action at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this week and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be at Eldora Speedway. Check out the full schedule below, which is subject to change.

Note: All times are ET

ELDORA
Tuesday, July 17
7:05-7:55 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice, No TV (Results)
9:05-9:55 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice, No TV (Results)

Wednesday, July 18
4:30 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualifying, FS1
7 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualifying races (Five 10-lap races to set lineup), FS1 (Results)
8:15 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series last chance qualifying race (15 laps), FS1 (Results)
9 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Eldora Dirt Derby (150 laps, 75 miles), FS1 (Results)

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Friday, June 20
Noon-12:50 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
1:05-1:55 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
3:05-3:55 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
4:45 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole qualifying, NBCSN/NBC Sports App

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
10:45 a.m.: :Joey Logano
11:15 a.m.: Martin Truex Jr.
11:30 a.m.: Kaz Grala, Daniel Hemric and Ryan Truex
11:45 a.m.: Ryan Preece
1:20 p.m.: Denny Hamlin
1:45 p.m.: Kyle Larson
5:45 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying

Saturday, July 21
10:05-10:55 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, CNBC/NBC Sports App
11:05 a.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying, CNBC/NBC Sports App
12:35-1:25 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
2 p.m.: NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Eastern Oil & Propane 100 (100 laps, 105.8 miles)
4 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series Lakes Region 200 (200 laps, 211.6 miles), NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Follow live)
6:45 p.m. NASCAR K&N Pro Series East United Site Services 70 (70 laps, 74.06 miles)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
6:15 p.m. (approx.): Post-NASCAR Xfinity Series race

Sunday, July 22
1 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 (301 laps, 318.46 miles), NBCSN/NBC Sports App – Update: Green flag set for 4:15 p.m. ET after delay at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race

MORE: How to find NBCSN

July 17, 2018
Truex Jr. captures his fourth win of the season at Kentucky

Defending Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. captured his fourth win of the season in the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky. Truex started from the pole and dominated the race by leading five times for a race-high of 174 laps.

“Thanks to everybody for their support and making all this possible – Toyota, TRD (Toyota Racing Development), Bass Pro Shops, 5-hour ENERGY, Furniture Row, Denver Mattress, Auto-Owners Insurance, of course, being our primary tonight and so many people that make this possible. I’m just the lucky guy who gets to drive the car. Pretty exciting night for us and two in a row at a race track is pretty cool,” Truex said.

Just like his win last season, Truex also swept the first two stages of the race. The victory marked the second in a row for Truex on the 1.5-mile track. In two years of stage racing in Kentucky, Truex has won each stage at the facility.

“You never know how these races are going to play out. You never know what is going to happen and we had such a strong Toyota tonight. They weren’t going to beat us,” Truex said.

Ryan Blaney finished second, Brad Keselowski third, Kyle Busch fourth and Kevin Harvick finished fifth.

“It’s not a win. It’s a positive, that’s for sure. I hate it. I thought we were in a good spot there restarting fourth and Martin struggled a little bit the first couple laps and I thought I could get by him, but just couldn’t quite get a run on him. His car came in and mine kind of faded a little bit and he won the race. That stunk. I thought we had a shot at it tonight, but I’m really proud of the gains we made all race though, to be honest with you,” Blaney said about his runner-up finish.

Busch holds the series points lead by 59 over Harvick. Truex Jr. is in third, 110 points back, Joey Logano fourth (-151) and Keselowski fifth (-169).

The next NASCAR Cup Series race is Sunday July 22 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.

Unofficial Race Results
Kentucky Speedway
Saturday, July 14th
1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Ryan Blaney
3. Brad Keselowski
4. Kyle Busch
5. Kevin Harvick
6. Kurt Busch
7. Erik Jones
8. Aric Almirola
9. Kyle Larson
10. Joey Logano
11. Paul Menard
12. Clint Bowyer
13. Chase Elliott
14. Jimmie Johnson
15. Daniel Suarez
16. Denny Hamlin
17. Jamie McMurray
18. David Ragan
19. Matt Kenseth
20. William Byron
21. Ryan Newman
22. Austin Dillon
23. Chris Buescher
24. Michael McDowell
25. Kasey Kahne
26. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
27. Bubba Wallace
28. Ross Chastain
29. Ty Dillon
30. AJ Allmendinger
31. Corey LaJoie
32. BJ McLeod
33. Landon Cassill
34. Timmy Hill
35. Jesse Little
36. Garrett Smithley
37. Matt DiBenedetto
38. JJ Yeley
39. Alex Bowman

July 15, 2018
Martin Truex Jr. soars to Busch Pole in Kentucky qualifying

Lee Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service

SPARTA, Ky. – Martin Truex Jr. didn’t need a dress rehearsal to put on a pole-winning performance at Kentucky Speedway on Friday.

His lack of mock qualifying runs in practice did not affect the ultimate result – his first Busch Pole on the 1.5-mile track.

The defending winner of the Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart executed the fastest lap in Round 3 to win the pole for Saturday night’s race at the 1.5-mile track (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

For Truex, the pole was his fourth of the season, the most among Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competitors.

“It wasn’t a perfect lap by any means but it was good enough,” said Truex after posting a speed of 188.890 mph (25.588-seconds). “We worked in race trim the whole time and honestly, our qualifying run, we only got one in during practice and it wasn’t very good. We hit traffic.

“We really had to guess on the set-up for here. The first round, I was a little bit off. Some of it was driver, some of it was car. We put our heads together, came up with a plan and everybody stepped it up. It feels good. Starting up front is key, so that first pit stall will be good for here and hopefully, we can back up what we did last year tomorrow night. It’s going to be tough, but it’s going to be fun.”

Last weekend’s first-time winner Erik Jones was second, followed by Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Paul Menard. Ryan Blaney, Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Daniel Suarez and Aric Almirola completed the top 12 in time trials.

Harvick topped the first session with a speed of 187.859 mph. Jones, Austin Dillon, Keselowski, Menard, Kyle Busch, Suarez, Bowyer, Newman, Blaney, Truex and Almirola completed the top 12 speeds. Chris Buescher was the first driver on the chart to run three laps in the first session but managed the 15th-fastest speed.

Truex posted a fast lap of 188.976 mph in Round 2 to lead the 12 drivers that advanced to the final round. Kyle Busch, Almirola, Keselowski, Jones, Newman, Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Harvick, Blaney, Menard and Suarez also advanced. With less than a minute to go in the round, Chase Elliott, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Austin Dillon made a second attempt but it was all for naught.

“The car hasn’t drove bad from time to time,” said Elliott, who will start 16th. “It just hasn’t drove as fast as we like. We’ll make it work.”

Four drivers failed to make a qualifying attempt because of trouble in pre-qualifying inspection. Those included Denny Hamlin, Matt DiBenedetto, Timmy Hill and Jesse Little — all of whom will start at the end of the 39-car field.

Seven-time series champ Jimmie Johnson will also have a starting spot deep in the field. He failed to advance out of the first of three qualifying rounds, and his Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet will set sail from 27th place Saturday night.

RELATED: Qualifying results

Contributing: Staff reports

July 13, 2018
Full schedule for Kentucky tripleheader

Staff Report | NASCAR.com

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be in action for a national series tripleheader at Kentucky Speedway. Check out the full schedule below, subject to change.

Note: All times are ET.

Thursday, July 12
9:05-9:55 a.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice, No TV (Follow live)
11:05-11:55 a.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice, No TV (Follow live)
4:05-4:50 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series practice, NBC Sports App only (Follow live)
5:10 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualifying, FS1 (Follow live)
6:05-6:50 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity final practice, NBC Sports App only (Follow live)
7:30 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Buckle Up in Your Truck 225 (150 laps, 225 miles), FS1 (Follow live)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
12:30 p.m.: Justin Haley, Bo LeMastus, Brett Moffitt
12:45 p.m.: Ben Rhodes
3:15 p.m.: Cole Custer, Daniel Hemric, Tyler Reddick
9:45 p.m.: Post-NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race

Friday, July 13
12-12:50 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, NBCSN (Follow live)
2-2:50 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, NBCSN (Follow live)
5:05 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying, NBCSN (Follow live)
6:40 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole Qualifying, NBCSN (Follow live)
8 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series Alsco 300 (200 laps, 300 miles), NBCSN (Follow live)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
10:45 a.m.: Ryan Blaney
11 a.m.: Erik Jones
11:15 a.m.: Alex Bowman
1:15 p.m.: Kyle Busch
3:15 p.m.: Martin Truex Jr.
7:15 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying
10:15 p.m.: Post-NASCAR Xfinity Series race

Saturday, July 14
7:30 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart (267 laps, 400.5 miles), NBCSN (Follow live)

PRESS PASS (Watch live)
10:45 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race

July 11, 2018
Multi-car wreck swallows half the field at Daytona

Brad Keselowski’s frustration was hidden behind a veil of sarcasm, as he stood outside the infield care center at Daytona International Speedway.

“I’ve got to wreck more people and then they’ll stop blocking me late and behind like that. That’s my fault,” Keselowski said. “I’ll take the credit for my team and we’ll go to Talladega and we’ll wreck everybody that throws a bad block like that.”

The bad block he referred to was thrown by race leader William Byron, who shifted from the top lane to the bottom to stall Keselowski’s run on the bottom. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who was right behind him, caught his right-rear corner panel as he moved back towards the bottom and hooked him into the outside wall, triggering a 26-car wreck on Lap 54 of the Coke Zero Sugar 400.

“Ricky was doing the best he could to give me a good push and had a great run to take the lead and the car in front of me just threw a late, bad block,” Keselowski added. “I made the mistake of lifting instead of just driving through him and that’s my fault. I know better than that.”

“Yeah, I thought he (Byron) blocked him, but I did that here in February and threw an aggressive block down the back straightaway that in turn caused a big crash like that too,” Stenhouse said after the race. “I can see it from Byron’s side and from my side I was a little frustrated he threw the block, but then again I can’t be too mad because I felt like I did that in February.”

Keselowski’s car turned up the track, clipped Kurt Busch’s car and slammed into the outside wall, going into Turn 3. Chase Elliott t-boned him, veered down into the path of Denny Hamlin, which gaggled up Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano and Daniel Suarez.

“…I don’t know, I think the best I can remember Brad (Keselowski) had a pretty big run on William (Byron) and I don’t think William was clear, but he didn’t know he wasn’t clear and then Brad tried to get on the brakes really hard to stop for him. We were getting really close to the corner so he couldn’t enter on the apron and whoever was behind him hit him and turned him up the track. Not really a whole lot you can do about that.”

Officially, 26 cars suffered some level of damage in the Lap 54 incident.

For Keselowski and Busch, the wreck didn’t hamper them in points. Both leave Daytona in the Top-10. Elliott’s points loss from his 34th-place finish was compounded by teammate Alex Bowman finishing in the Top-10 and Stenhouse finishing the race. He leaves 37 points ahead of the Playoff cutoff spot.

July 8, 2018
Erik Jones grabs first Monster Energy Series win in OT finish at Daytona

Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In a wild war of attrition that went to two overtimes, Erik Jones outdueled Martin Truex Jr. on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway to seize the first victory of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career.

In a Coke Zero Sugar 400 that went eight laps beyond its scheduled 160, Jones passed the reigning series champion on the backstretch of the final lap and held on to win by .125 seconds. Jones battled back from damage sustained in a multicar wreck on Lap 65, an accident that cost him a lap.

The final circuit was the only one Jones led.

“How about that race, boys and girls?” Jones shouted to the fans in the grandstands after his celebratory burnout in front of the flag stand. “My first Cup win, my first win at Daytona, my first superspeedway win — what an awesome day, man!

“There’s so much smoke in the car from that burnout, I can hardly breathe, but what an awesome finish.”

AJ Allmendinger ran third after a nine-car wreck ended the first overtime attempt with Truex approaching the finish line just short of the end of the white-flag lap. That wreck provided the coup de grace for Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson and Trevor Bayne.

Only 20 of the 40 cars that started the race were running at the finish, and only 13 finished on the lead lap. Kasey Kahne came home fourth after leading 17 laps, and Chris Buescher ran fifth, matching his finish in the season-opening Daytona 500.

With a push from Kahne, Truex got the lead after the final restart on Lap 167 but couldn’t hold it. The outside lane was more organized as the final lap unfolded, and Jones got a strong run through Turns 1 and 2.

“He (Jones) got a big run getting into (Turn) 1 and through the center, and I just didn’t block him good enough in the middle of 1 and 2,” Truex said. “He got to my right rear quarter — just barely — enough to slow me down off of 2, and then the race was on from there.

“Just missed that block a little bit. I’ve got to get better at my mirror-driving. I’ve never really been good at that, and unfortunately, that’s part of this racing here, but I’m really proud to get to the end.”

Truex had posted only one other top-five finish — a second in the 2016 Daytona 500 — in 26 previous starts at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

Two massive wrecks in Stage 2, both involving Ricky Stenhouse Jr., eliminated the majority of the contending cars and opened the door for a new winner.

On Lap 54, Brad Keselowski was running behind leader William Byron when his No. 2 Ford turned off the front bumper of Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s Fusion, slammed into the No. 41 of Kurt Busch and ignited a Turn 3 wreck that involved 24 cars and wiped out all three Team Penske entries, along with Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Daniel Suarez and pole winner Chase Elliott.

But Keselowski didn’t blame Stenhouse. He pointed the finger at Byron, who moved down the track to put a late block on the No. 2 and forced Keselowski to check up.

“Ricky was doing the best he could to give me a good push and had a great run to take the lead, and the car in front of me (Byron) just threw a late, bad block,” Keselowski said. “I made the mistake of lifting instead of just driving through him, and that’s my fault.

“I’ve got to wreck more people, and then they’ll stop blocking me late and behind like that. That’s my fault. I’ll take the credit for my team, and we’ll go to Talladega, and we’ll wreck everybody that throws a bad block like that.”

Byron didn’t stay up front for long. He was leading again on Lap 65 when Stenhouse tapped the left rear of series leader Kyle Busch’s Toyota and sent the No. 18 Camry spinning into Byron’s Chevrolet. Both Byron and Busch were knocked out of the race in that accident.

“I tried to side-draft the 18 (Busch) in the wrong place,” a subdued Stenhouse said on his team radio.

Byron lost a good chance to improve on his 21st position in the standings.

“The No. 17 car (Stenhouse) just kind of, I guess, hooked the No. 18 into me,” Byron said. “It seemed like he was being really aggressive, and that’s the second time we’ve kind of been on the wrong end of something with him.

“Unfortunate for us, but we had a good race going. We needed to really have a really good day, because of the points position we’re in, but that is just part of speedway racing, I guess. But it stinks to be on that side of it. But at least we led some laps (12), so that was good.”

Notes: Stenhouse won the first and second stages, garnering his first playoff points of the season, before sustaining serious damage in a Lap 124 wreck. He finished 17th, one lap down. … Harvick’s No. 4 team did yeoman work to repair his car after it suffered extensive body damage in the Lap 54 accident. Harvick led the field to green on Lap 162 to start the first overtime, but he fell victim to the nine-car wreck before that circuit was completed. … Despite a 33rd-place finish, Kyle Busch retained the series lead by 57 points over Harvick.

RELATED: Race results | ‘Big One’ erupts at Daytona

July 7, 2018
Chase Elliott earns Busch Pole Award at Daytona; Hendrick sweeps front row

Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A sprained ankle didn’t prevent Chase Elliott from putting his foot to the floorboard Friday at Daytona International Speedway.

Elliott powered around the 2.5-mile track in 46.381 seconds (194.045 mph) to win the pole position for Sunday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 (7 p.m. on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) by a whopping .24 seconds over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman (193.046 mph).

The Busch Pole Award was Elliott’s first of the season and the fourth of his career, all of which have come at restrictor-plate superspeedways — three of them at Daytona.
With Jimmie Johnson qualifying fourth at 192.361 mph, Hendrick Chevrolets took three of the top four starting positions for the 18th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the season. Third-place qualifier Brad Keselowski broke up the monopoly with a lap at 192.802 mph in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford.

Earlier in the week, Elliott sprained his right ankle — the one that mashes the accelerator — while “horsing around at the pool.” He had the ankle X-rayed at the infield care center at the track.

“I didn’t really want to do that, so I’ve been trying to draw as least amount of attention as possible to that,” Elliott said. “But it’s all good. Yeah, had a little ankle sprain, but we are good and ready to go.”

Saturday’s race will mark Elliott’s 95th start in NASCAR’s top series. Those 94 events have produced 26 top five’s — including eight runner-up results — but no wins.

“I think it gives everybody confidence,” Elliott said of the pole-winning effort. “Having a good pit stall is certainly nice. That can matter at the end of these races. Sharing the front row with your teammate is also nice, too.

“So we’ll just have to see. The race is a whole different ballgame, but to have speed in our Chevrolet is nice, and to have (sponsor) Hooters for their first race of the season on the pole is cool, too. Looking forward to (Saturday) night.”

Kevin Harvick qualified fifth, followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Newman, Michael McDowell and Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon. Seven Fords and five Chevrolets made the final round. Reigning series champion Martin Truex Jr. will start 13th in the top-qualifying Toyota.

With rain wiping out Thursday’s second Cup practice, Friday’s time trials were more of a question mark than they otherwise would have been.

“It was OK, I think — you never know what you’re going to get here,” Truex said of his starting position. “Not much practice yesterday, and we didn’t do any qualifying runs, so we just kind of winged it. I think 13th will be an OK starting spot.”

Series leader Kyle Busch earned the 15th spot on the grid.

RELATED: Full qualifying results

July 6, 2018