A post qualifying inspection has seen Kyle Busch bumped to the rear of the field with his brother, Kurt, awarded the pole position at the NASCAR race in Atlanta.
Kyle Busch set the best speed in the final round of qualifying at 308.460 km/h (191.668 mph), prior to the inspection which will now see the Sprint Cup champion start from 39th on the grid.
NASCAR said the degree to which the vertical angle of Kyle Busch’s rear wheels were toed was illegal.
However, apart from having his time disallowed there would be no further penalties applied.
One Busch’s pain is the other’s gain with Kurt now set to share the front row with Jamie McMurray.
“It’s an awesome run that the car had in it,” said Kurt Busch.
“The team did a good job and I was just trying to make sure I didn’t slip a tyre any extra.
“It’s really easy to overdrive Atlanta Motor Speedway. The track challenges the driver, the car and the tyres. It’s a fun place to come and try to lay down a lap.
“Overall with the way the developments came up from tech inspection this shows the amount of enforcement that NASCAR is ready to imply to their technical procedures on what a car has to do to comply to all specs.”
Only 39 cars are entered this weekend making it the smallest NASCAR Sprint Cup field since North Wilkesboro in September 1996 when there were 37 starters.
QUALIFYING TIMES: Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 – Atlanta Motor Speedway
| POS. | CAR # | DRIVER | MAKE | SPONSOR | MPH | TIME | BEHIND |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 | Kyle Busch* |  |
M&M’s 75 | 191.668 | 28.925 | Leader |
| 2 | 41 | Kurt Busch |  |
Monster Energy / Haas Automation | 191.582 | 28.938 | –0.013 |
| 3 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | |
McDonald’s | 190.130 | 29.159 | –0.234 |
| 4 | 6 | Trevor Bayne |  |
Advocare Ford Fusion | 189.987 | 29.181 | –0.256 |
| 5 | 31 | Ryan Newman | |
Caterpillar | 189.961 | 29.185 | –0.260 |
| 6 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | |
Ford EcoBoost Ford Fusion | 189.863 | 29.200 | –0.275 |
| 7 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | |
Jimmy John’s | 189.779 | 29.213 | –0.288 |
| 8 | 19 | Carl Edwards | |
Arris | 189.766 | 29.215 | –0.290 |
| 9 | 3 | Austin Dillon | |
Dow | 189.681 | 29.228 | –0.303 |
| 10 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr | |
Furniture Row | 189.364 | 29.277 | –0.352 |
| 11 | 44 | Brian Scott | |
Twisted Tea | 188.591 | 29.397 | –0.472 |
| 12 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | |
Panasonic | 187.196 | 29.616 | –0.691 |
| 13 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | |
FedEx Ground | 190.385 | 29.120 | –0.195 |
| 14 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | |
Dollar General | 190.260 | 29.139 | –0.214 |
| 15 | 16 | Greg Biffle | |
Roush Performance Ford Fusion | 190.182 | 29.151 | –0.226 |
| 16 | 13 | Casey Mears | |
GEICO | 190.150 | 29.156 | –0.231 |
| 17 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr | |
Nationwide | 189.818 | 29.207 | –0.282 |
| 18 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | |
AutoTrader | 189.144 | 29.311 | –0.386 |
| 19 | 14 | Ty Dillon | |
Bass Pro Shops Tracker Boats | 189.138 | 29.312 | –0.387 |
| 20 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | |
Lowe’s | 188.790 | 29.366 | –0.441 |
| 21 | 42 | Kyle Larson | |
Target | 188.719 | 29.377 | –0.452 |
| 22 | 27 | Paul Menard | |
Valvoline / Menards | 188.713 | 29.378 | –0.453 |
| 23 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | |
Kroger/Scott Products | 188.636 | 29.390 | –0.465 |
| 24 | 21 | Ryan Blaney | |
Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire + Auto Center | 187.449 | 29.576 | –0.651 |
| 25 | 24 | Chase Elliott | |
NAPA Auto Parts | 189.390 | 29.273 | –0.348 |
| 26 | 10 | Danica Patrick | |
Aspen Dental | 189.079 | 29.321 | –0.396 |
| 27 | 22 | Joey Logano | |
Shell Pennzoil | 189.041 | 29.327 | –0.402 |
| 28 | 43 | Aric Almirola | |
Smithfield | 188.565 | 29.401 | –0.476 |
| 29 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | |
Aaron’s | 188.028 | 29.485 | –0.560 |
| 30 | 38 | Landon Cassill | |
FR8 Auctions | 187.837 | 29.515 | –0.590 |
| 31 | 7 | Regan Smith | |
Nikko / RC ToyState Chevrolet | 187.392 | 29.585 | –0.660 |
| 32 | 34 | Chris Buescher | |
CSX – Play it Safe | 187.120 | 29.628 | –0.703 |
| 33 | 95 | Michael McDowell | |
Thrivent Financial | 185.903 | 29.822 | –0.897 |
| 34 | 23 | David Ragan | |
Dr. Pepper | 185.778 | 29.842 | –0.917 |
| 35 | 46 | Michael Annett | |
Pilot Flying J | 185.617 | 29.868 | –0.943 |
| 36 | 83 | Matt DiBenedetto | |
Sewanee, The University of the South / ZAK Products | 185.499 | 29.887 | –0.962 |
| 37 | 98 | Cole Whitt | |
Tweaker Energy Shot | 184.039 | 30.124 | –1.199 |
| 38 | 30 | Josh Wise | |
Curtis Key Plumbing | 183.820 | 30.160 | –1.235 |
| 39 | 32 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | |
Can – Am | 180.769 | 30.669 | –1.744 |
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