Kyle Busch stays on roll with Pocono pole

[August 01, 2015]  By Reid Spencer
 
 NASCAR Wire Service
 
 Distributed by The Sports Xchange
 
 LONG POND, Pa. -- He did it again.
 
 Riding a wave of success unprecedented in his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career, Kyle Busch streaked to the pole position on Friday at Pocono Raceway, edging Kevin Harvick for the top starting spot in Sunday's Windows 10 400 (NBCSN at 1:30 p.m. ET).

Touring the 2.5-mile triangular track at 178.416 mph, Busch won his first pole of the season, his second at Pocono (the first coming in 2010) and the 17th of his career.

Busch is gunning for his fourth straight victory in the series after returning from an 11-race injury absence, and he's savoring every minute of his extraordinary run of good fortune.

"I've had plenty of times in my career when things have all gone in the wrong direction, so this is a sweet change from that," Busch said. "Sometimes it happens for you, and you're not exactly sure why, but if you look back at the past couple of years, especially in the summer months, we couldn't hit anything right.

"This year, we've got four out of five wins. You just take it when you can get it. ... We're just trying to ride that wave as long as it'll carry us -- just hope it'll last another 16 weeks (through the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup)."

Joey Logano (177.837 mph) was third fastest in the final round of knockout qualifying, followed by Austin Dillon (177.658 mph) and Tony Stewart (177.630 mph), who secured a top-five starting position for the second straight week.

Before time trials, Busch wasn't sure he even had a shot at the pole.

"I knew I had a fast car, but I wasn't sure we could get the balance of it right," Busch said. "But that last run was the best it's been all day. (Crew chief) Adam Stevens and these guys, they did it again. Like I said, I knew we had some speed. We just had to put it in the right perspective for the three corners of this racetrack."

Harvick posted his best lap of the afternoon moments before Busch knocked him off the provisional pole.

"You never know, with the way the qualifying session is, how much faster everybody's going to go," Harvick said.""I knew our fastest lap needed to be the last time on the racetrack, so I knew that we had done a good job.

"I probably gave up just a little bit of time, just the slightest bit of chatter through Turn 1, but (Turns) 2 and 3 were pretty good, and that's what we needed to do."

NOTES: Jeff Gordon qualified 10th for his final start at the Tricky Triangle, a track that has accounted for six of his 92 career victories. ... June Pocono winner Martin Truex Jr. just missed advancing to the final round and will start 13th. ... Dale Earnhardt Jr., who swept both Pocono Cup races last year, lines up 15th, five spots in front of Danica Patrick.

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