NASCAR Watkins Glen: AJ Allmendinger takes another road course pole

The JTG Daugherty Racing driver, who also claimed pole at Sonoma in June, had set the pace in the first round of qualifying by 0.229 seconds from Kevin Harvick.

Allmendinger, whose only Sprint Cup win so far came at Watkins Glen last year, then hit the front in the second round as the only driver to go below 1m09s, posting a time of 1m08.993s.

Martin Truex Jr was the closest driver to him, 0.146s behind, while Tony Stewart maintained his recent strong qualifying form to take third, and Harvick was forced to settle for fourth.

Jeff Gordon was fifth ahead of Kyle Larson and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Kyle Busch, who started a run of four wins in five races with victory at Sonoma, managed eighth.

Jimmie Johnson, Austin Dillon and Brad Keselowski were next up, while Justin Allgaier was the last of those who made it through to the second round as he secured a best-yet grid position of 12th.

There were a number of big-name drivers who missed out on progressing from the first round, with 2015 race winners Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards and Joey Logano occupying the first four places outside of the top 12.

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