It was a great day for qualifying as several drivers broke the existing track record with Kevin Harvick taking home the bragging rights for beating them all as he picked up the Coors Light Pole Award for the Bojangles Southern 500. It marks Harvick’s seventh career pole and his first at the egg-shaped oval. Harvick lapped the field with a lap of 26.802 seconds in the third round of knock-out qualifying.
Joey Logano qualified second, followed by Aric Almirola. Almirola set a new track record during round two of qualifying with a lap of 26.705 seconds. It is the sixth track record in eight races this year.
Qualifying today for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 was done in three rounds. In the first round, the top 24 cars would move on to round 2, where the top 12 will then move on to round 3, and round 3 will determine your top 12 starting position and most importantly, the pole position.
Here is the round by round by round recap.
ROUND #1
Round #1 was a very fast round with several drivers breaking the current track record. Few drivers that were on the bubble for that last spot to get to the next round but for the most part the lineup stayed the same, your 24 drivers that moved on to round #2 are 1) 27 Menard 2) 11 Hamlin 3) 1 McMurray, 4) 43 Almirolan 5)41 Kurt Busch 6) Newman 7) 24 Gordon 8) 9 Ambrose 9) 99 Edwards 10)22 Logano 11) 18 Kyle Busch 12) 16 Biffle 13) 3 Dillon 14) 5 Kahne 15) 2 Keselowski 16) 4 Harvick 17) 47 Allmendinger 18) 55 Vickers 19) 14 Stewart 20)51 Allgaier 21) 78 Truex Jr 22) 88 Earnhardt Jr 23) 15) Bowyer 24) Larson
Of note, last year’s race winner Matt Kenseth qualified 25th with six-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson in 26th. Johnson commented after his run that the car was too tight.
ROUND #2
Round #2 proved to be even faster than round #1 with Almirola setting another new track record of 184,145.
The following 12 drivers would move on to the 3rd round to go for the pole Almirola, Logano, McMurray, Harvick, Ambrose, Menard, Keselowski, Newman, Gordon, Hamlin, Truex Jr, and Kyle Busch. Martinsville race winner Kurt Busch just missed the top 12 in 13th, followed by Brian Vickers and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
ROUND #3
This would be the round for the bragging rights, which ended up with Kevin Harvick taking home the pole and setting the top 12 starting positions. Logano qualified second, followed by Almirola, Ambrose, Keselowski, McMurray Newman, Kyle Busch, Gordon, Hamlin, Menard, and Truex Jr.
In the end only one driver would not make the race and that was Reutimann who was 39th fastest, 46th in owner points.
