Kyle Busch won the pole at Charlotte Motor Speedway Thursday night, but his wasn’t the fastest lap. That honor belonged to his older brother Kurt who led the second of the three rounds of knockout qualifying with a lap of 198.771 mph making it the fastest lap on a 1.5-mile track in NASCAR history.
“It seemed like the guy that was most consistent was able to win the pole tonight,” Busch said. “We’d like to come out of here with a solid weekend and put us in a good spot to continue in this Chase.”
Jeff Gordon will start second for Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Bank of America 500 (7:00 p.m. ABC). Denny Hamlin was third, Tony Stewart will start fourth and Ryan Newman fifth.
“I drove in there and I just was a little bit too much,” Gordon said. “I should have been a little bit more committed because the front end finally, it cut; and I was like ‘No!’ That’s all right. That’s certainly a good place to start this race.”
For only the second time this season Penske Racing drivers Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski failed to advance to the final round; Logano will start 13th Keselowski 17th Saturday night. MORE>>>
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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