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Streaking around the 1.5-mile oval in 28.149
seconds (191.836 mph), Busch claimed his third Busch Pole Award
of the year, his third at Charlotte and the 30th of his career.
Already a three-time winner this season, Busch will have the
additional advantage of first pit stall selection for the 13th
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event of the season.
Busch's No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was .091 seconds faster
than the No. 22 team Penske Ford of Joey Logano (191.218 mph).
Denny Hamlin, Busch's JGR teammate, qualified third at 191.049
mph.
Charlotte is the only active Cup track where Busch has not
recorded a victory in a points race, though he has 11 top fives
and 16 top 10s in 28 starts. The 2015 series champion's only win
at CMS came in last year's Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race.
"It's important to me, but I'm not sure it's important in the
grand scheme of things," Busch said of his desire to knock the
final track off his checklist. "It's certainly important to me,
and I would love to get that knocked out of the way and to be
finished with it until another new track comes up on the
circuit.
"Certainly, it's been a trying time here over the course of my
career, and to have it come to fruition in a points race, (but)
the last I checked, I have a trophy at home that says, 'Winner
at Charlotte Motor Speedway,' so I'll take that to my grave with
me if I do never get a points win here. That will be my saving
grace, I guess."
Logano was 19th fastest in opening practice but improved
dramatically in qualifying.
"We made some good adjustments," said Logano, who is second in
the series standings through 12 races, 12 points behind Busch.
"It's hard for me to say what was the changes and what was the
race track. The Xfinity cars ran on the PJ1 (traction compound
in the center lane) and definitely activated it and got the grip
definitely up there.
"It's hard to say what was what, but the car got faster, and
that's all I really care about."
The No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing of Kevin Harvick, winner of the
last two Cup points events as well as last Saturday's exhibition
Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race, failed pre-qualifying
inspection three times and will start from the rear in Sunday's
race.
In addition, Harvick's car chief, Robert Smith, was ejected from
the race track for the weekend. Harvick also will lose 30
minutes of practice time in Happy Hour on Saturday. Harvick is
attempting to win three straight points races for the second
time this season, but Logano is just as glad "The Closer" is
starting from the rear.
"Are we taking bets on how long it takes to him to get up
there?" Logano quipped.
JGR driver Erik Jones earned the fourth spot on the grid, and
with Daniel Suarez qualifying 10th -- having eked into the final
round by .004 seconds over Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -- all four Gibbs
drivers will start from top-10 positions.
Brad Keselowski qualified fifth, followed by Ryan Newman, Jamie
McMurray, Ryan Blaney, Aric Almirola and Suarez.
--By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Distributed by Field
Level Media.
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