Joe Gibbs Racing sweeps the top three spots for Sunday’s race with Martin Truex Jr. taking fourth.
Matt Kenseth will lead the field to the green flag for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway after taking his first pole of the season and 18th of his career. Two of his teammates, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards, will start second and third, respectively. He topped the field with a time of 28.112 seconds (192.089 mph) just 0.001 ahead of Busch.
Martin Truex Jr. is the only non-JGR car to start in the top two rows, however, the top-four are all Toyotas. The fastest Chevy was Alex Bowman (5th) with Joey Logano (5th) the quickest Ford.
With practice speeds topping the 200 mph mark, all eyes were on qualifying at Kansas Speedway Friday evening to see if Kevin Harvick’s track record of 197.773 mph would be broken. After early morning sprinkles that delayed practices for just a few minutes, the track was rubbered up with temperatures hovering around 70-degrees making conditions perfect for that to happen.
It was not to be. In fact, it was missed by a whopping 5.684 mph.
Next: Best NASCAR Championship Seasons
The sun would break through and change conditions dropping early qualifying speeds down from practices with Matt Kenseth topping the field at 190.826 in round one. Things got better in the second round with Kyle Busch topping the field at 190.826, however, three Chase drivers – Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch, and Jimmie Johnson – failed to move on. Alex Bowman, Ryan Newman, and AJ Allmendinger all advanced.
PIT NOTES:
In the first round, Ricky Stenhouse got loose and tagged the wall that would bring a halt to the proceedings with 14:42 left on the clock for track cleanup. Unable to use tools to make repairs on the car, a crew member pulled the damaged body away from the front and rear wheels by hand. Stenhouse would return to the track for a second run and finished above the cut line to advance to the next round. He will start 18th.
Joey Gase, the 23-uear old out of Cedar Rapids, IA, was behind the wheel of the No. 32 Ford for Go Fas Racing instead of Jeffrey Earnhardt. He will start 38th.
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400 STARTING LINEUP:
1 – Matt Kenseth
2 – Kyle Busch
3 – Carl Edwards
4 – Martin Truex Jr.
5 – Alex Bowman
6 – Joey Logano
7 – Denny Hamlin
8 – Brad Keselowski
9 – Ryan Newman
10 – AJ Allmendinger
11 – Kevin Harvick
12 – Austin Dillon
13 – Chase Elliott
14 – Tony Stewart
15 – Kurt Busch
16 – Paul Menard
17 – Ryan Blaney
18 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
19 – Danica Patrick
20 – Kasey Kahne
21 – Jimmie Johnson
22 – Greg Biffle
23 – Jamie McMurray
24 – Kyle Larson
25 – Trevor Bayne
26 – Regan Smith
27 – Matt DiBenedetto
28 – David Ragan
29 – Casey Mears
30 – Chris Buescher
31 – Clint Boyer
32 – Brian Scott
33 – Michael McDowell
34 – Landon Cassill
35 – Aric Almirola
36 – Cole Whitt
37 – Michael Annett
38 – Joey Gase
39 – Reed Sorenson
40 – Josh Wise
Who do you think wins the Hollywood Casino 400?