Kyle Larson still on fire, wins pole for Auto Club 400 in California
By Nick Tylwalk
A California kid will lead the field to the green flag at the Auto Club 400 on Sunday.
Many pundits expected that Kyle Larson was due for a breakthrough this season, but no one would have expected him to be quite this hot. Except for race wins, everything is going Larson’s way in 2017, and that continued Friday as he topped the speed list in qualifying for the Auto Club 400 for his second career Cup Series pole.
The California native looked like he was going to finish second-best to Denny Hamlin, who was fastest in the second round of qualifying. But Larson found some extra speed by trying a bit of a higher line in Turns 3 and 4 — something that he’s known for at a handful of tracks — and managed to edge out Hamlin in the final round, leading the No. 11 driver to playfully toss some water toward the Target Chevy as it returned to pit road.
“I felt like I messed up a little bit in 1 and 2,” Larson said to the Fox Sports crew after his run. “I hadn’t run up high in 3 or 4 in qualifying and practice so I wasn’t sure what I would have when I got there, but ran in a good ways and it stuck … To get a pole is great. I haven’t gotten a pole since my rookie season. We have a little team dinner tonight, so we have something to celebrate.”
Larson entered California as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points leader, in contrast to another resident of the state, Jimmie Johnson, who is off to a much slower start and didn’t even attempt to qualify since he’s already in a backup car.
Joey Logano also failed to even get out for a qualifying run, completing technical inspection with less than 40 seconds left in the first round and will start 35th on Sunday.
“I don’t even know what we didn’t make it through in time,” Logano said to the TV cameras. “We’ll have our work cut out, but nothing that we can’t overcome.”
Hamlin, Brad Keselowki, Martin Truex Jr. and last week’s race winner Ryan Newman round out the top five. Kevin Harvick will start seventh after showing some early speed, and Jamie McMurray, who has qualified in the top 12 in every Cup Series race in 2017, will line up beside him in eighth.
Next: Full TV schedule for NASCAR in California
Auto Club 400 from Auto Club Speedway full qualifying results:
- Kyle Larson
- Denny Hamlin
- Brad Keselowski
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Ryan Newman
- Matt Kenseth
- Kevin Harvick
- Jamie McMurray
- Kyle Busch
- Daniel Suarez
- Austin Dillon
- Kasey Kahne
- Chase Elliott
- Erik Jones
- Kurt Busch
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Clint Bowyer
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Ryan Blaney
- Chris Buescher
- Ty Dillon
- Danica Patrick
- Paul Menard
- A.J. Allmendinger
- Michael McDowell
- Landon Cassill
- David Ragan
- Cole Whitt
- Reed Sorensen
- Corey Lajoie
- Aric Almirola
- Jeffrey Earnhardt
- Derrike Cope
- Timmy Hill
- Joey Logano
- Trevor Bayne
- Jimmie Johnson
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Gray Gaulding