Kevin Harvick has scored the pole for the IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol, while Marcos Ambrose will start from the fifth row.
Harvick set a new qualifying track record at Bristol Motor Speedway with a lap of 211.407km/h (131.362 miles per hour) during the second and final round of qualifying to win his fifth pole of the season. Jeff Gordon was a very close second with a lap at 211.291km/h (131.290mph).
“Track position is definitely as important as it is anywhere here with the current groove and where you are running,” said Harvick.
“I felt good about our car during practice, and (we) just have to stay in there all night and do the best we can.”
Ambrose who needs a win to qualify for the Chase for Sprint Cup was pleased with his qualifying effort.
“It’s a great day. There were a lot of great names in that final 12, so I’m just pleased I was in there to mix it up with them,” said Ambrose.
“We did a lot of laps to make it to the final 12, which hurt our performance in the run home, but we’ll take our day.
“We had to make two more runs than we wanted, but they kept making changes to the car and made it better. We had to do the laps to make our way in and I’m glad we made it.”
All drivers in the top 12 broke Denny Hamlin’s track record of 209.200km/h (129.991 mph), set in March. He was the fastest driver not to break his record and will start 13th.
Three drivers crashed during the session. Rookie Kyle Larson had the roughest ride, brushing both the outside and inside wall. Cole Whitt and Aric Almirola also wrecked.
QUALIFYING: IRWIN Tools Night Race – Bristol Motor Speedway
| POS. | CAR | DRIVER | MANUFACTURER | SPONSOR | MPH | BEST TIME | BEHIND |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Kevin Harvick |  |
Jimmy John’s | 131.362 | 14.607 | Leader |
| 2 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | |
Drive to End Hunger | 131.290 | 14.615 | –0.008 |
| 3 | 99 | Carl Edwards |  |
Fastenal | 131.209 | 14.624 | –0.017 |
| 4 | 18 | Kyle Busch |  |
Doublemint | 131.057 | 14.641 | –0.034 |
| 5 | 22 | Joey Logano | |
Shell Pennzoil | 131.030 | 14.644 | –0.037 |
| 6 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | |
Lowe’s | 131.030 | 14.644 | –0.037 |
| 7 | 41 | Kurt Busch | |
Haas Automation | 130.940 | 14.654 | –0.047 |
| 8 | 16 | Greg Biffle | |
3M Hire Our Heroes Ford Fusion | 130.869 | 14.662 | –0.055 |
| 9 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | |
Wurth | 130.504 | 14.703 | –0.096 |
| 10 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | |
DeWalt | 130.460 | 14.708 | –0.101 |
| 11 | 31 | Ryan Newman | |
Caterpillar | 130.168 | 14.741 | –0.134 |
| 12 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | |
Great Clips | 130.009 | 14.759 | –0.152 |
| 13 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | |
FedEx Ground | 129.982 | 14.762 | –0.155 |
| 14 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | |
5-Hour Energy | 129.894 | 14.772 | –0.165 |
| 15 | 55 | Brian Vickers | |
Aaron’s Dream Machine | 129.877 | 14.774 | –0.167 |
| 16 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | |
Dollar General | 129.684 | 14.796 | –0.189 |
| 17 | 27 | Paul Menard | |
Serta / Menards | 129.684 | 14.796 | –0.189 |
| 18 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | |
McDonald’s | 129.649 | 14.800 | –0.193 |
| 19 | 51 | Justin Allgaier | |
BRANDT Professional Agriculture | 129.561 | 14.810 | –0.203 |
| 20 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr | |
Diet Mountain Dew | 129.230 | 14.848 | –0.241 |
| 21 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | |
Fifth Third/Ford EcoBoost | 129.169 | 14.855 | –0.248 |
| 22 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | |
Bush’s Beans | 129.160 | 14.856 | –0.249 |
| 23 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr | |
Furniture Row | 128.848 | 14.892 | –0.285 |
| 24 | 10 | Danica Patrick | |
GoDaddy | 128.753 | 14.903 | –0.296 |
| 25 | 14 | Jeff Burton | |
Bass Pro Shops / Mobil 1 | 128.477 | 14.935 | –0.328 |
| 26 | 3 | Austin Dillon | |
Dow Great Stuff | 128.262 | 14.960 | –0.353 |
| 27 | 23 | Alex Bowman | |
Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry | 127.988 | 14.992 | –0.385 |
| 28 | 95 | Michael McDowell | |
Thrivent Financial | 127.971 | 14.994 | –0.387 |
| 29 | 34 | David Ragan | |
Dockside Logistics | 127.886 | 15.004 | –0.397 |
| 30 | 98 | Josh Wise | |
Provident Metals | 127.512 | 15.048 | –0.441 |
| 31 | 66 | Brett Moffitt | |
Land Castle Title | 127.470 | 15.053 | –0.446 |
| 32 | 38 | David Gilliland | |
MDS | 127.453 | 15.055 | –0.448 |
| 33 | 83 | Ryan Truex | |
Burger King Toyota Camry | 127.436 | 15.057 | –0.450 |
| 34 | 26 | Cole Whitt | |
Speed Stick GEAR Toyota | 127.360 | 15.066 | –0.459 |
| 35 | 37 | Dave Blaney | |
Accell Construction Inc. | 127.081 | 15.099 | –0.492 |
| 36 | 36 | Reed Sorenson | |
TBA | 127.056 | 15.102 | –0.495 |
| 37 | 32 | J.J. Yeley | |
Corvetteparts.net/Red Buck Premium Cigars | 126.370 | 15.184 | –0.577 |
| 38 | 7 | Michael Annett | |
Pilot / Flying J Chevrolet | 126.237 | 15.200 | –0.593 |
| 39 | 40 | Landon Cassill | |
CRC 1-Tank Power Renew | 125.404 | 15.301 | –0.694 |
| 40 | 42 | Kyle Larson | |
Target | 124.954 | 15.356 | –0.749 |
| 41 | 33 | David Stremme | |
Little Joe’s Autos | 123.746 | 15.506 | –0.899 |
| 42 | 43 | Aric Almirola | |
STP | 0.000 | 0.000 | -14.607 |
| 43 | 13 | Casey Mears | |
No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS | 0.000 | 0.000 | -14.607 |
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