Kevin Harvick won the provisional pole for Saturday’s Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway, leading a Stewart-Haas Racing sweep of the top four positions in qualifying Friday.
Harvick, the defending winner of the Digital Ally 400, claimed the pole with a speed of 179.217 mph. It is his 28th Cup Series pole and his third this year.
The top five is completed by Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer, Daniel Suarez and Chase Elliott. This is the second time SHR has swept the first four positions (Fall Talladega 2018).
“The mile-and-a-half race tracks have been quite a handful for us as we’ve gone through the beginning of the season,” Harvick told Fox Sports 1. “From new cars and different engines and different headers and body builds, new sim files and aero maps, you name it. This is the next step. ... Everybody knew we were a little bit behind. We saw some light at some Texas. Everybody’s done a great job and Bush Beer Ford is really fast and drive well in traffic.”
The pole is Harvick’s fifth at Kansas, which is his most at any track and a track record.
It is the fourth time Almirola has qualified on the front row this year.
“Our Ford Mustangs are fast and I like it,” Almirola said. “It is fun when you show up to the race track and have a lot of speed. It has been tough to show up to these race tracks and just not feel like we were one of the cars to beat, so it feels good to show up here and have the speed we have today and I am looking forward to the race tomorrow night. Hopefully we can carry that speed through the rest of the race.”
Filling out the top 10 is Martin Truex Jr., William Byron, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski and Alex Bowman.
Kyle Busch qualified 13th.
This weekend’s race is an impound race. Inspection will be conducted Saturday before the race. If a car fails once, their time is disqualified and will have to start from the rear.