Kurt Busch leads Stewart Haas 1-2-3 start at Texas

credit: Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Kurt Busch scored the Busch Pole Award and accompanying Henry Repeating Arms Big Boy lever-action rifle Friday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway. Qualifying for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 halted after the first round because of lightning in the area, and Busch was the beneficiary with a lap of 27.360 seconds at 197.368 mph in the No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford.

“It was a unique situation with just having the one round,” Busch said of the qualifying effort. “The thought that weather was in the area hadn’t crossed our minds but yet you have to play all three rounds as smart as you can. We went a little bit aggressive on that first round and it paid off.”

Stewart Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick put the No. 4 Busch Light Ford on the outside pole with his (27.395 seconds, 197.116 mph).

“It was good. We had a good lap and just got beat by a little bit. I think we didn’t really realize that was going to be the last one but we thought maybe there was a chance.” Harvick explained. “We kept it in the family and that is a good thing for Stewart-Haas Racing and hopefully we can continue the trend of running well for the rest of the weekend.”

The most recent Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series winner, Clint Bowyer, rolls off third giving Stewart-Haas Racing the organization’s first 1-2-3 start.

Penske’s Ryan Blaney starts fourth in the No. 12 Menard’s Ford, fastest of the “New Kids on the Track.” The Toyotas of Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. roll off side-by-side on the third row, breaking up the blue oval party, though Joey Logano slipped in at seventh, followed closely by Kyle Busch in the eighth position. The Chevys of Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Larson round out the top 10.

Track conditions on Sunday will be radically different than for qualifying and for practice Saturday, so teams may not have gained much, if any, information that will help them on race day. 

Starting lineup:

Rank	Driver	Car number	Manufacturer
1	Kurt Busch	41	Ford
2	Kevin Harvick	4	Ford
3	Clint Bowyer	14	Ford
4	Ryan Blaney	12	Ford
5	Denny Hamlin	11	Toyota
6	Martin Truex, Jr.	78	Toyota
7	Joey Logano	22	Ford
8	Kyle Busch	18	Toyota
9	Jimmie Johnson	48	Chevrolet
10	Kyle Larson	42	Chevrolet
11	Brad Keselowski	2	Ford
12	Aric Almirola	10	Ford
13	Trevor Bayne	6	Ford
14	Daniel Suarez	19	Toyota
15	Darrell Wallace, Jr.	43	Chevrolet
16	Alex Bowman	88	Chevrolet
17	Austin Dillon	3	Chevrolet
18	Chris Buescher	37	Chevrolet
19	Paul Menard	21	Ford
20	Chase Elliott	9	Chevrolet
21	Erik Jones	20	Toyota
22	A.J. Allmendinger	47	Chevrolet
23	Ty Dillon	13	Chevrolet
24	Jamie McMurray	1	Chevrolet
25	Ryan Newman	31	Chevrolet
26	Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.	17	Ford
27	Michael McDowell	34	Ford
28	Kasey Kahne	95	Chevrolet
29	David Ragan	38	Ford
30	Matt DiBenedetto	32	Ford
31	Ross Chastain	15	Chevrolet
32	Gray Gaulding	23	Toyota
33	William Byron	24	Chevrolet
34	Cole Whitt	72	Chevrolet
35	Landon Cassill	0	Chevrolet
36	Harrison Rhodes	51	Chevrolet
37	Reed Sorenson	55	Chevrolet