Aimee
In a race against the clock — and an impending storm — it was Kevin Harvick who prevailed in Sprint Cup qualifying Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Breaking the previous track record, Harvick’s speed of 131.362 miles per hour narrowly edged Jeff Gordon to capture the pole for Saturday night’s Sprint Cup race. Gordon, the fast qualifier a week ago, was No. 1 in the first round of qualifying and was on the provisional pole for much of Friday’s second session. But when Harvick went ahead of him on the scoring chart, Gordon was unable to counter.
“Kevin put up a great lap,” Gordon said. “I thought I had a really good lap that first run out, I came on the radio and I said ‘That is all I got.’ When you go do that and the car is well balanced and you get a good lap, you know that it’s up to somebody else to just take a little more risk and maybe get it, and Kevin did.”
The pole is Harvick’s fifth of the season and, in a race where track position is critical, gives him a decided advantage.
“Track position is definitely as important as it is anywhere here with the current groove and where you are running,” Harvick said. “I felt good about our car during practice and just have to stay in there all night and do the best we can.”
Rounding out the top five were Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano. Edwards won the Bristol spring race from the 12th starting position.
Rookie Kyle Larson was considered one of the favorites to win the pole, having posted fast times in both practices earlier in the day. But Larson got loose and spun off of Turn 4 in the opening session, brushing the outside wall and then contacting the pit road wall. He will start 40th Saturday.
“I just got loose through the corner and thought I could save it, and probably should have just bailed,” Larson said. “… I definitely was over the edge. It’s frustrating because we had a really, really good Chevy in practice with definitely top-five speeds. Now I don’t know what we have.”
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