Kevin Harvick Wins Sprint Cup Coors Light Pole Award at Bristol

Kevin Harvick captured his fifth pole of the season at Bristol Motor Speedway with a record speed of 131.362 mph, setting a new track record. It is his 11th career pole in the series.

“My guys have done a great job bringing fast cars every week,” he said. “I knew we had a good car in practice and were able to get it pretty good in race trim.” He summed it up saying, “Any time you can beat the 24 (Jeff Gordon) right now, things are going okay.”

Jeff Gordon was quickest in the first round and was looking for a third straight pole but he was unable to carry the top speed over to the final round and will begin on the outside pole in the IRWIN Tools Night Race.

“I was really, really happy with the balance and how the car was getting through the corners,” Gordon explained. “I thought we did it, I really did. I thought we had enough. That was a good lap so it just tells you how good of a lap Kevin had.”

Carl Edwards duplicated his run in the first round and will start in third place for the Saturday night race. Edwards won the Food City 500 this past spring at Bristol. Kyle Busch will start beside Edwards in the fourth position. Busch has five previous wins at the track, along with Gordon and his brother, Kurt. Joey Logano qualified fifth followed by Jimmie Johnson, who has one win at Bristol, in sixth place.

Qualifying was intense as drivers tried to beat the rain which was threatening to interfere with qualifying. Kyle Larson, Aric Almirola, Casey Mears and Cole Whitt fell victim to the high speeds and made contact with the wall during qualifying. Larson was fastest in the first practice but did not advance to the final round of qualifying and will have to begin from 40th place.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who was fastest in the final practice missed a little over half of the first round because his car was still in inspection when qualifying began. He did not make the cut-off for the final round and will start from the 21st position.

Drivers who did not make it to the final round include notables Dale Earnhardt Jr. who will start 20th, Matt Kenseth (16), Clint Bowyer (14) and Denny Hamlin (13).

Tune in to the Irwin Tools Night Race Saturday evening on ABC with television coverage beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Lineup for the IRWIN Tools Night Race
Position Car No. Driver
1 4 Kevin Harvick
2 24 Jeff Gordon
3 99 Carl Edwards
4 18 Kyle Busch
5 22 Joey Logano
6 48 Jimmie Johnson
7 41 Kurt Busch
8 16 Greg Biffle
9 2 Brad Keselowski
10 9 Marcos Ambrose
11 31 Ryan Newman
12 5 Kasey Kahne
13 11 Denny Hamlin
14 15 Clint Bowyer
15 55 Brian Vickers
16 20 Matt Kenseth
17 27 Paul Menard
18 1 Jamie McMurray
19 51 Justin Allgaier
20 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
21 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
22 47 AJ Allmendinger
23 78 Martin Truex Jr.
24 10 Danica Patrick
25 14 Jeff Burton
26 3 Austin Dillon
27 23 Alex Bowman
28 95 Michael McDowell
29 34 David Ragan
30 98 Josh Wise
31 66 Brett Moffitt
32 38 David Gilliland
33 83 Ryan Truex
34 26 Cole Whitt
35 37 Dave Blaney
36 36 Reed Sorenson
37 32 J.J. Yeley
38 7 Michael Annett
39 40 Landon Cassill
40 42 Kyle Larson
41 33 David Stremme
42 43 Aric Almirola
43 13 Casey Mears

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

Angela Campbell
Angela Campbell
A native of Charlotte, NC, Angela (Angie) was first introduced to racing by her father. An avid fan of NASCAR, she found a way to combine her love of racing with her passion for writing. Angie is also an award-winning member of the National Motorsports Press Association. Follow her on Twitter @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

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