{"id":17759,"date":"2018-05-24T23:04:27","date_gmt":"2018-05-25T04:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=17759"},"modified":"2018-05-24T23:04:27","modified_gmt":"2018-05-25T04:04:27","slug":"kyle-busch-saves-best-for-last-in-charlotte-pole-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/05\/24\/kyle-busch-saves-best-for-last-in-charlotte-pole-run\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyle Busch saves best for last in Charlotte pole run"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

CONCORD, N.C. \u2013 Running his fastest lap in the final round of Thursday\u2019s knockout qualifying session at Charlotte Motor Speedway<\/strong>, Kyle Busch<\/strong> earned the top starting spot for Sunday\u2019s Coca-Cola 600, NASCAR\u2019s<\/a> longest race (6 p.m. Sunday on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

\"\"

Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Red White & Blue Toyota, poses with the Busch Pole Award afer qualifying on the pole for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 24, 2018 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Sarah Crabill\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Streaking around the 1.5-mile oval in 28.149 seconds (191.836 mph), Busch claimed his third Busch Pole Award of the year, his third at Charlotte and the 30th of his career. Already a three-time winner this season, Busch will have the additional advantage of first pit stall selection for the 13th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event of the season.<\/p>\n

Busch\u2019s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was .091 seconds faster that the No. 22 team Penske Ford of Joey Logano (191.218 mph). Denny Hamlin, Busch\u2019s JGR teammate, qualified third at 191.049 mph.<\/p>\n

Charlotte is the only active Cup track where Busch has not recorded a victory in a points race, though he has 11 top fives and 16 top 10s in 28 starts. The 2015 series champion\u2019s only win at CMS came in last year\u2019s Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to me, but I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s important in the grand scheme of things,\u201d Busch said of his desire to knock the final track off his checklist. \u201cIt\u2019s certainly important to me, and I would love to get that knocked out of the way and to be finished with it until another new track comes up on the circuit.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, practices for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 24, 2018 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Sarah Crabill\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cCertainly, it\u2019s been a trying time here over the course of my career and to have it come to fruition in a points race, (but) the last I checked, I have a trophy at home that says, \u2018Winner at Charlotte Motor Speedway,\u2019 so I\u2019ll take that to my grave with me if I do never get a points win here. That will be my saving grace, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n

Logano was 19th fastest in opening practice but improved dramatically in qualifying.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made some good adjustments,\u201d said Logano, who is second in the series standings through 12 races, 12 points behind Busch. \u201cIt\u2019s hard for me to say what was the changes and what was the race track. The Xfinity cars ran on the PJ1 (traction compound in the center lane) and definitely activated it and got the grip definitely up there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to say what was what, but the car got faster, and that\u2019s all I really care about.\u201d<\/p>\n

The No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing of Kevin Harvick, winner of the last two Cup points events as well as last Saturday\u2019s exhibition Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race, failed pre-qualifying inspection three times and will start from the rear in Sunday\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Team owner, Joe Gibbs, speaks with Erik Jones, driver of the #20 Circle K Toyota, during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 24, 2018 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Matt Sullivan\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

In addition, Harvick\u2019s car chief, Robert Smith, was ejected from the race track for the weekend. Harvick also will lose 30 minutes of practice time in Happy Hour on Saturday. Harvick is attempting to win three straight points races for the second time this season, but Logano is just as glad \u201cThe Closer\u201d is starting from the rear.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre we taking bets on how long it takes to him to get up there?\u201d Logano quipped.<\/p>\n

JGR driver Erik Jones earned the fourth spot on the grid, and with Daniel Suarez qualifying 10th\u2014having eked into the final round by .004 seconds over Ricky Stenhouse Jr.\u2014all four Gibbs drivers will start from top-10 positions.<\/p>\n

Brad Keselowski qualified fifth, followed by Ryan Newman, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Blaney, Aric Almirola and Suarez.<\/p>\n

Media Center Interviews:<\/h3>\n

Kyle Busch – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/MENCS_KyleBusch_Qualifying_052418.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Joey Logano – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/MENCS_JoeyLoganoSecondQualifier_052418.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying – Coca-Cola 600<\/b><\/p>\n

Charlotte Motor Speedway<\/b><\/p>\n

Concord, North Carolina<\/b><\/p>\n

Thursday, May 24, 2018<\/b><\/p>\n

                 1. (18)  Kyle Busch, Toyota, 191.836 mph.<\/p>\n

                 2. (22)  Joey Logano, Ford, 191.218 mph.<\/p>\n

                 3. (11)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 191.049 mph.<\/p>\n

                 4. (20)  Erik Jones, Toyota, 190.894 mph.<\/p>\n

                 5. (2)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 190.557 mph.<\/p>\n

                 6. (31)  Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 190.201 mph.<\/p>\n

                 7. (1)  Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 189.940 mph.<\/p>\n

                 8. (12)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, 189.893 mph.<\/p>\n

                 9. (10)  Aric Almirola, Ford, 189.707 mph.<\/p>\n

                 10. (19)  Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 189.707 mph.<\/p>\n

                 11. (42)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 188.943 mph.<\/p>\n

                 12. (3)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 188.075 mph.<\/p>\n

                 13. (17)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 188.844 mph.<\/p>\n

                 14. (21)  Paul Menard, Ford, 188.805 mph.<\/p>\n

                 15. (78)  Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 188.679 mph.<\/p>\n

                 16. (41)  Kurt Busch, Ford, 188.363 mph.<\/p>\n

                 17. (6)  Matt Kenseth, Ford, 187.983 mph.<\/p>\n

                 18. (37)  Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 187.905 mph.<\/p>\n

                 19. (38)  David Ragan, Ford, 187.526 mph.<\/p>\n

                 20. (13)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 187.402 mph.<\/p>\n

                 21. (24)  William Byron #, Chevrolet, 187.272 mph.<\/p>\n

                 22. (9)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 187.110 mph.<\/p>\n

                 23. (48)  Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 186.625 mph.<\/p>\n

                 24. (43)  Darrell Wallace Jr. #, Chevrolet, 185.816 mph.<\/p>\n

                 25. (15)  Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 187.624 mph.<\/p>\n

                 26. (95)  Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 187.585 mph.<\/p>\n

                 27. (88)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 187.493 mph.<\/p>\n

                 28. (14)  Clint Bowyer, Ford, 187.279 mph.<\/p>\n

                 29. (34)  Michael McDowell, Ford, 186.890 mph.<\/p>\n

                 30. (47)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 186.716 mph.<\/p>\n

                 31. (32)  Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 186.047 mph.<\/p>\n

                 32. (96)  Parker Kligerman(i), Toyota, 185.103 mph.<\/p>\n

                 33. (72)  Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 183.150 mph.<\/p>\n

                 34. (23)  Gray Gaulding, Toyota, 183.138 mph.<\/p>\n

                 35. (00)  Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 182.970 mph.<\/p>\n

                 36. (66)  Timmy Hill(i), Toyota, 180.222 mph.<\/p>\n

                 37. (55)  Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 178.974 mph.<\/p>\n

                 38. (51)  BJ McLeod(i), Chevrolet, 177.731 mph.<\/p>\n

                 39. (4)  Kevin Harvick, Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

                 40. (7)  JJ Yeley(i), Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. \u2013 Running his fastest lap in the final round of Thursday\u2019s knockout qualifying session at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kyle Busch earned the top starting spot for Sunday\u2019s Coca-Cola 600, NASCAR\u2019s longest race (6 p.m. Sunday on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Streaking around the 1.5-mile oval in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17765,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[233,245,59,16],"class_list":["post-17759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-charlotte-motor-speedway","tag-coca-cola-600","tag-kyle-busch","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/MENCS_PoleWinner_052418.jpg?fit=4036%2C2648","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-4Cr","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17759"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17767,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17759\/revisions\/17767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}