Martinsville NASCAR: Kyle Busch beats Denny Hamlin to pole
Kyle Busch snatched pole position in a hectic NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying session at Martinsville
Busch - who won at Fontana last week - set a time of 18.998s (99.674 mph) to claim a new lap record at the half-mile track in the 12-car shootout for the pole.
Joe Gibbs Racing dominated the session, with Denny Hamlin joining Busch on the front row of the grid, just over two thousandths of a second behind.
Joey Logano set the fastest overall lap of the session with a time of 18.898s, but this came before the final shootout and the Penske driver could only manage third as he struggled to match his earlier form in the last 10 minutes.
Hendrick team-mates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon rounded off the top five, followed by last week's polesitter Matt Kenseth and a resurgent Tony Stewart, who capitalised by setting a time late in the session, beating Carl Edwards and Jamie McMurray's earlier efforts.
Danica Patrick qualified 10th for Stewart-Haas after making her first appearance in the final shootout this season.
Brad Keselowski struggled to match the pace of team-mate Logano and missed the last segment of qualifying for the first time this year.
The 2012 champion starts the race in 14th place.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Toyota 18.998s
2. Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Toyota 19.022s +0.024s
3. Joey Logano Penske Ford 19.045s +0.047s
4. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet 19.093s +0.095s
5. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet 19.118s +0.120s
6. Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Toyota 19.118s +0.120s
7. Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 19.150s +0.152s
8. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford 19.157s +0.159s
9. Jamie McMurray Ganassi Chevrolet 19.200s +0.202s
10. Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 19.290s +0.292s
11. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford 19.369s +0.371s
12. Clint Bowyer Waltrip Toyota 19.445s +0.447s
13. Brian Vickers Waltrip Toyota 19.134s Q1
14. Brad Keselowski Penske Ford 19.141s Q1
15. AJ Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Chevrolet 19.149s Q1
16. Ryan Newman Childress Chevrolet 19.151s Q1
17. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford 19.183s Q1
18. Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 19.184s Q1
19. Alex Bowman BK Toyota 19.193s Q1
20. Aric Almirola Petty Ford 19.200s Q1
21. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet 19.203s Q1
22. Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 19.203s Q1
23. Casey Mears Germain Chevrolet 19.205s Q1
24. David Ragan Front Row Ford 19.205s Q1
25. Justin Allgaier HScott Chevrolet 19.238s Q1
26. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet 19.248s Q1
27. Kasey Kahne Hendrick Chevrolet 19.252s Q1
28. Kyle Larson Ganassi Chevrolet 19.257s Q1
29. Travis Kvapil Go FAS Ford 19.274s Q1
30. Ricky Stenhouse Jr Roush Fenway Ford 19.282s Q1
31. Martin Truex Jr Furniture Row Ford 19.283s Q1
32. Michael McDowell Leavine Ford 19.322s Q1
33. Josh Wise Parsons Chevrolet 19.331s Q1
34. Austin Dillon Childress Chevrolet 19.345s Q1
35. Cole Whitt Swan Toyota 19.358s Q1
36. Landon Cassill Hillman Chevrolet 19.370s Q1
37. David Stremme Mace Toyota 19.385s Q1
38. Ryan Truex BK Toyota 19.402s Q1
39. David Gilliland Front Row Ford 19.430s Q1
40. Michael Annett Baldwin Chevrolet 19.478s Q1
41. Parker Kligerman Swan Toyota 19.506s Q1
42. Reed Sorenson Baldwin Chevrolet 19.511s Q1
43. Joe Nemechek NEMCO Toyota 19.657s Q1
Did not qualify
David Reutimann MDS Ford
Dave Blaney Humphrey Ford
Share Or Save This Story
Payback, fistfights and wall-rides: NASCAR's most shocking playoff moments
NASCAR hands Hamlin points penalties for engine violation
Bubba Wallace: Richmond NASCAR chaos is "the system’s fault"
What will F1's switch to a 60-40 power split bring? The drivers give their verdict
Ferrari is down on power "even to Ford", says Leclerc
Super Formula announces extra Fuji race as Autopolis replacement
How McLaren’s early years set the team on the path to success
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments