Austin Dillon has showed that despite missing a spot in the Final 8 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup title, he is still keen to fight for victories with pole position at Texas Motor Speedway.
It is the Richard Childress Racing driver’s third career pole
“Man, that’s huge,” said Dillon.
“It is our second pole of the year, and I can’t be happier for RCR and everybody back at the shop. A lot of hard work and effort goes on.
“We missed the Chase by just two feet. We want to prove that we can win a race by the end of this year. This is big for us.”
Chase contender Joey Logano will start outside the front row for the second time this season at Texas.
Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five.
Denny Hamlin (17th) and Jimmie Johnson (19th) were two other drivers still in the Chase that qualified outside the top ten.
The major talking point was defending series champion Kyle Busch, who was forced to a back-up car after a crash in practice; he will start 24th.
QUALIFYING: AAA Texas 500 – Texas Motor Speedway
| POS. | CAR # | DRIVER | MAKE | SPONSOR | MPH | TIME/GAP |
| 1 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | Realtree / Bad Boy | 192.301 | 28.081 |
| 2 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | AAA | 192.260 | –0.006 |
| 3 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Busch Beer Chevrolet SS | 192.178 | –0.018 |
| 4 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | Alliance Truck Parts | 192.130 | –0.025 |
| 5 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | Kimberly Clark | 191.959 | –0.050 |
| 6 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Schrock / Menards | 191.523 | –0.114 |
| 7 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Toyota | DeWalt Flexvolt | 191.381 | –0.135 |
| 8 | 21 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | Borg Warner | 191.272 | –0.151 |
| 9 | 19 | Carl Edwards | Toyota | Sport Clips | 190.988 | –0.193 |
| 10 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | Haas Automation / Monster Energy Chevrolet SS | 190.543 | –0.259 |
| 11 | 24 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | Kelley Blue Book | 190.429 | –0.276 |
| 12 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr | Toyota | Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats | 189.560 | –0.406 |
| 13 | 13 | Casey Mears | Chevrolet | GEICO Military | 191.232 | –0.157 |
| 14 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevrolet | Bush’s Chili Beans | 191.191 | –0.163 |
| 15 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | CESSNA | 191.049 | –0.184 |
| 16 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | Nationwide | 190.894 | –0.207 |
| 17 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Office | 190.826 | –0.217 |
| 18 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | Grainger | 190.577 | –0.254 |
| 19 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe’s | 189.520 | –0.412 |
| 20 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | Ford | Fastenal Ford Fusion | 189.195 | –0.461 |
| 21 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Ford | Smithfield | 188.659 | –0.542 |
| 22 | 10 | Danica Patrick | Chevrolet | TaxACT Chevrolet SS | 187.878 | –0.661 |
| 23 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Bass Pro / Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS | 19.198 | –253.205 |
| 24 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | M&M’s Core | 194.056 | -0.254 |
| 25 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | Performance Plus Motor Oil Ford Fusion | 191.144 | –0.170 |
| 26 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | AdvoCare / SEAL Legacy Foundation | 190.759 | –0.227 |
| 27 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | 5-Hour Energy | 190.732 | –0.231 |
| 28 | 95 | Michael McDowell | Chevrolet | Thrivent Financial | 190.523 | –0.262 |
| 29 | 44 | Brian Scott | Ford | Albertsons / Tom Thumb Ford | 190.328 | –0.291 |
| 30 | 34 | Chris Buescher | Ford | Love’s Travel Stops | 190.315 | –0.293 |
| 31 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | AARP Drive To End Hunger | 190.215 | –0.308 |
| 32 | 7 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Nikko RC / Toy State Chevrolet | 189.907 | –0.354 |
| 33 | 83 | Matt DiBenedetto | Toyota | ZAK Backs the Blue Toyota | 189.900 | –0.355 |
| 34 | 38 | Landon Cassill | Ford | MDS Transport | 189.069 | –0.480 |
| 35 | 93 | Ryan Ellis | Toyota | ScienceLogic | 188.495 | –0.567 |
| 36 | 23 | David Ragan | Toyota | Dr. Pepper | 187.643 | –0.697 |
| 37 | 46 | Michael Annett | Chevrolet | Pilot Flying J | 186.832 | –0.822 |
| 38 | 55 | Reed Sorenson | Chevrolet | Trump – Pence | 184.200 | –1.235 |
| 39 | 32 | Joey Gase | Ford | Donate Life Texas | 182.063 | –1.579 |
| 40 | 30 | Josh Wise | Chevrolet | Curtis Key Plumbing | 180.741 | –1.796 |
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