HAMPTON, Ga. — Kevin Harvick will lead the field to the green flag in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford scored the pole after posting a time of 29.118 and a speed of 190.398 mph.
It adds on to the string of three straight years of dominance in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series that Harvick has maintained at Atlanta. However, he’s been unable to translate that dominance into a second career victory at the track that played host to his first career victory in 2001. And he doesn’t know if a pole start is the missing link to getting the victory.
“We have been in this position before and this really goes back to 2009 when we really started running well here. We have led a ton of laps here but just haven’t won a race,” Harvick said. “It is a little frustrating because we have won a whole bunch of races in the other two divisions with the same performance on Sunday. It just seems something happens at the end of the race. Hopefully, this is the year we can close it out.”
Ryan Newman qualified second in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 29.199 and a speed of 189.870 mph. Kyle Busch qualified third in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after posting a time of 29.202 and a speed of 189.850 mph. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. qualified fourth in his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford after posting a time of 29.356 and a speed of 188.854 mph. Brad Keselowski rounded out the top-five in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford after posting a time of 29.367 and a speed of 188.783 mph.
Joey Logano, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-10.
Chase Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying.
Prior to the start of qualifying, a large number of cars were still in the process of going through inspection after failing a station.
NASCAR executive official Elton Sawyer addressed the media on the matter.
At the conclusion of the first round, only five cars failed to post a timed lap.
