Daniel Hemric earns first Cup pole at Kansas; Kevin Harvick fails to make attempt

Daniel Hemric captured the first pole of his Cup career and will lead the field to green in Sunday’s playoff race at Kansas Speedway.

Hemric covered the 1.5-mile oval at a speed of 178.047 mph, the only driver to surpass 178 mph.

“It’s pretty special,” Hemric told NBCSN. “I kind of felt when I got out of the car I’d be fifth to eighth. But these guys have done a great job all year. No matter what’s been thrown at us, they’ve risen to the occasion and showed up at the racetrack, ready to work.

“With so much going on around us (Hemric learned a couple weeks ago that he would not be back in the No. 8 car next year), you can get lost in the distraction of things, but to know these guys have continued to have my back through all this stuff has meant the world to me.”

David Ragan, the final driver to make a qualifying effort, will start alongside Hemric on the front row in Sunday’s race with an effort of 177.842 mph.

Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney (177.754 mph) and Brad Keselowski (177.667 mph) qualified third and fourth, respectively.

Fifth through 10th were Kyle Larson (177.667), Michael McDowell (177.585), Ryan Newman (177.497), Daniel Suarez (177.363), Austin Dillon (177.352) and Bubba Wallace (177.328).

Several playoff drivers struggled in qualifying, including Kyle Busch (qualified 18th), Clint Bowyer (21st), Denny Hamlin (23rd), William Byron (25th), Joey Logano (29th) and Kevin Harvick (40th).

Speaking of Harvick, his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang did not make a qualifying attempt and will start Sunday’s race from the back of the 40-car field.

According to NBCSN, Harvick’s car failed the first round of pre-qualifying inspection, passed on its second try, but crew chief Rodney Childers apparently didn’t like something he saw around the drive shaft and withdrew the car from qualifying so the team could work on it. As a result, the pass became a fail and car chief Robert Smith was ejected from the track for the remainder of the weekend. The team also lost 15 minutes of practice next weekend at Martinsville.

After making repairs, the team went through inspection a third time and failed, meaning the loss of another 15 minutes of practice next week at Martinsville. The team passed on its fourth attempt, but did not take part in qualifying, leaving it to start at the back of the field for Sunday’s race.

Crew chief Rodney Childers told NBC Sports, “It’s disappointing. It was a decision we made to try to be safe and not  have a problem in the race or anything like that. The biggest disappointment is just having to start in the back over something we did voluntarily. That’s what is disappointing. I think everybody in this garage would vote for each other and have each other’s back so that if you found a problem on your car and you went back through voluntarily that’s on the team and not counted as a failure. I don’t think that’s right.”

Contributing: Dustin Long.

Click here for qualifying results.

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