Harvick Wins Kansas Pole as SHR Sweeps First Two Rows

Getty Images

KANSAS CITY, KS - RIS - Kevin Harvick returned to his 2018 form by winning the pole for Sunday's race at Kansas Speedway.  The Stewart-Haas Racing Fords took the first four spots with Chase Eliott earning and posting the fifth fastest speed.  

Harvick, still looking for his first win of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, won the pole for Saturday night’s Digital Ally 400 and will have his three Stewart-Haas Racing teammates lined up behind him.

Harvick’s average lap speed of 179.217 mph topped teammates Aric Almirola (178.725 mph), Clint Bowyer (178.324 mph) and Daniel Suarez (178.247 mph).   Starting from the front is nothing new for Harvick, who now leads the Monster Energy circuit with three pole wins in 2019. He's entering Saturday night's race in third place of the overall point standings, trailing Kyle Busch and Joey Logano.    Starting this weekend as the points leader, Kyle Busch didn't have a banner day in qualifying. The 2015 Monster Energy Cup Series champion is in the midst of a rough patch, at least by his standards, with three consecutive finishes outside the top five. 

The last time Busch made it through four straight races not in the top five was at the end of 2016 and start of 2017. 

Harvick will be the favorite to win Saturday night. His victory last year and strong run in qualifying make him worthy of that distinction. 

It's up to the rest of the field to prove it's capable of knocking Harvick off his perch as the 2019 season kicks into second gear, so to speak.

Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Chase Elliott 10/21/18 02:38:02 152.057


Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Chase Elliott 10/21/18 02:38:02 152.057
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 4 Kevin Harvick Busch Beer Ford 30.131 179.217
2 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 30.214 178.725
Row 2: 3 14 Clint Bowyer Rush Truck Centers/Haas Automation Ford 30.282 178.324
4 41 Daniel Suarez Haas Automation Demo Day Ford 30.295 178.247
Row 3: 5 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 30.345 177.954
6 19 Martin Truex Jr. Auto Owners Insurance Toyota 30.447 177.357
Row 4: 7 24 William Byron UniFirst Chevrolet 30.483 177.148
8 42 Kyle Larson Credit One Bank Chevrolet 30.530 176.875
Row 5: 9 2 Brad Keselowski Wurth Ford 30.540 176.817
10 88 Alex Bowman Axalta Chevrolet 30.542 176.806
Row 6: 11 20 Erik Jones DeWalt Toyota 30.577 176.603
12 43 Bubba Wallace World Wide Technology Chevrolet 30.579 176.592
Row 7: 13 18 Kyle Busch M&M's Red Nose Day Toyota 30.586 176.551
14 1 Kurt Busch Global Poker Chevrolet 30.586 176.551
Row 8: 15 13 Ty Dillon GEICO Chevrolet 30.605 176.442
16 21 Paul Menard Menards/Dutch Boy Ford 30.644 176.217
Row 9: 17 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Freight Toyota 30.651 176.177
18 48 Jimmie Johnson Ally Chevrolet 30.673 176.051
Row 10: 19 12 Ryan Blaney BodyArmor Ford 30.676 176.033
20 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 30.729 175.730
Row 11: 21 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. SunnyD Ford 30.732 175.713
22 3 Austin Dillon American Ethanol Chevrolet 30.751 175.604
Row 12: 23 34 Michael McDowell Dockside Logistics Ford 30.818 175.222
24 32 Corey LaJoie Schluter Systems Ford 30.820 175.211
Row 13: 25 00 Landon Cassill(i) StarCom Fiber Chevrolet 30.823 175.194
26 8 Daniel Hemric # Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet 30.825 175.182
Row 14: 27 37 Chris Buescher Kroger Your Personal Pit Stop Chevrolet 30.889 174.820
28 6 Ryan Newman Performance Plus Motor Oil Ford 30.893 174.797
Row 15: 29 95 Matt DiBenedetto Digital Momentum/Hubspot Toyota 30.917 174.661
30 31 Tyler Reddick(i) TAME the BEAST Chevrolet 30.932 174.576
Row 16: 31 47 Ryan Preece # Kroger Chevrolet 30.938 174.543
32 52 Bayley Currey(i) Belmont Classic Cars Ford 30.956 174.441
Row 17: 33 38 David Ragan Mystik Lubricants Ford 30.992 174.239
34 77 Quin Houff OilFire Rye Whiskey Chevrolet 31.123 173.505
Row 18: 35 36 Matt Tifft # Out West Express Ford 31.192 173.121
36 15 Ross Chastain(i) Low T Center Chevrolet 31.242 172.844
Row 19: 37 51 Cody Ware(i) JACOB Companies Chevrolet 31.590 170.940
38 46 Joey Gase(i) MBM Motorsports Toyota 32.027 168.608
Row 20: 39 66 Timmy Hill(i) MBM Motorsports Toyota 34.485 156.590
40 27 Reed Sorenson Harrah's Chevrolet 0.000 0.000

Ron Fleshman

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

Read More on Cup / XFINITY / Truck news
Volume 2019, Issue 4, Posted 12:04 AM, 05.11.2019