Kevin Harvick wins Nationwide pole while Ty Dillon and Kyle Busch stuck in tech

Credit: Lisa Janine Cloud/Skirts and Scuffs

JR Motorsports dominated qualifying for the 18th Annual O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway Friday afternoon, with all four of the team's cars landing in the top six positions.

Kevin Harvick in the Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevy took the pole with a 29.195 second lap. Matt Kenseth followed closely in the Game Stop/Lego The Hobbit Toyota. Regan Smith put the Tayslayer.com Chevy in third, bumping boss Dale Earnhardt Jr. to fourth in the Ragu Camaro. Elliott Sadler squeezed into fifth with the OneMain Financial Camry, just .004 behind Earnhardt Jr. and .004 ahead of Chase Elliott in the NAPA Auto Parts Chevy.

Brendan Gaughan, Trevor Bayne, Ryan Blaney, and Dylan Kwasniewski rounded out the top 10.

Meanwhile, back in the garage, Ty Dillon, who was fastest in both practices yesterday, was unable to make a qualifying attempt because the No. 3 WESCO Chevy did not pass inspection. Defending race winner Kyle Busch and the No. 54 Monster Camry also missed qualifying because of tech issues, joined by Kyle Larson's No. 42 Cartwheel Chevy and Chris Buescher's No. 60 Roush Performance Parts Mustang. Busch will start 36th, Larson 37th, Dillon 38th, and Buescher in 39th.

According to NASCAR's Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton, there were 17 violations of the camber and toe rules, with two or three weight- or height-related issues. This is the first year for the Nationwide Series to use the same inspection system as the Cup series, so Pemberton indicated there would not likely be any penalties issued by NASCAR.

"We'll work through it," Pemberton said, "and if there's something that needs to be adjusted team-wise or our-wise, but when we have rules that are new and we have a different way of measuring things from time to time, over the history for the sport, generally you have more isue up front in situations like this. This is new for the Nationwide Series."

Here's the complete starting order.

POS	Car #	Driver
1	5	Kevin Harvick
2	20	Matt Kenseth
3	7	Regan Smith
4	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr
5	11	Elliott Sadler
6	9	Chase Elliott
7	62	Brendan Gaughan
8	6	Trevor Bayne
9	22	Ryan Blaney
10	31	Dylan Kwasniewski
11	99	James Buescher
12	44	David Starr
13	2	Brian Scott
14	84	Chad Boat
15	19	Mike Bliss
16	16	Ryan Reed
17	93	J.J. Yeley
18	51	Jeremy Clements
19	1	Landon Cassill
20	40	Josh Wise
21	39	Ryan Sieg
22	76	Tommy Joe Martins
23	4	Jeffrey Earnhardt
24	87	Kevin Lepage
25	43	Dakoda Armstrong
26	55	Jamie Dick
27	52	Joey Gase
28	46	Matt DiBenedetto
29	14	Eric McClure
30	17	Tanner Berryhill
31	23	Robert Richardson
32	13	Mike Wallace
33	74	Mike Harmon
34	70	Derrike Cope
35	28	Derek White
36	54	Kyle Busch
37	42	Kyle Larson
38	3	Ty Dillon
39	60	Chris Buescher