Kurt Busch Wins Pole After Kyle Busch Disqualified

Kurt Busch earned his first-career Atlanta pole after brother Kyle Busch was disqualified
Matt Hazlett/Getty Images

Kurt Busch scored his first-career Atlanta Motor Speedway pole in Friday's qualifying for Sunday's Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, moving to the top of the leaderboard after brother Kyle Busch has his pole-winning lap disallowed after failing post-qualifying inspection.

Kurt Busch clocked in with a lap of 191.582 mph in the third and final round of qualifying, but fell just short of topping his brother Kyle, who initially had the top spot with a speed of 191.668.

Roughly an hour later, NASCAR announced Kyle Busch had been disqualified, elevating brother Kurt to the pole – his 20th-career Sprint Cup pole and his first in 24 starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Jamie McMurray qualified second, followed by Trevor Bayne, Ryan Newman and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.

Kurt Busch's pole was his first since Pocono last June and his best Atlanta start since March of 2009.

"It's an awesome run that the car had in it," said Busch after learning he had been awarded the pole. "The team did a good job to dial it in for the three rounds. I was just trying to make sure I didn't slip a tire any extra. It's really easy to overdrive Atlanta Motor Speedway. The track challenges the driver, the car and the tires. It's a fun place to come and try to lay down a lap.

"Overall with the way the developments came up from tech inspection, this shows the amount of enforcement that NASCAR is ready to imply to their technical procedures on what a car has to do to comply to all specs."

Kyle Busch paced the opening round of qualifying ahead of Bayne, Kyle Larson and Kurt Busch, while Jamie McMurray logged the top speed in the second round followed by Kurt Busch and Austin Dillon.

Coming into the third and final round, Kurt Busch powered to the top of the speed charts and held the top spot until his brother Kyle took the track as one of the last qualifiers and rocketed to the pole.

It would have been Kyle Busch's first-career Atlanta pole as well, but his good fortune ended in the "room of doom".

NASCAR announced the reason for Kyle Busch's disqualification was too much rear toe on the no. 18 Toyota Camry. He'll have to start in the rear of the field for Sunday's race.

"We failed post-qualifying inspection – time disallowed," said Kyle Busch's crew chief Adam Stevens. "They did clue us in as to why. We had too much rear skew – not skew – the toe alignment was wrong. Too much rear toe.

"The parts move – everything moves – so you expect it to be a little bit different, but this is the first opportunity we've had to gather post information was right now and it's game time and it was too much. We were perfectly legal beforehand, which obviously or we wouldn't have qualified and just the amount of load on the track moves everything a little bit and that little bit was a little bit too much."

Bayne's third-place showing is his best ever at a non-restrictor-plate track, capping a decent qualifying effort for all three Roush-Fenway entries, with teammates Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., and Greg Biffle qualifying fifth and 14th, respectively.

Qualifying Results

Pos. # Driver Make Sponsor Speed Lap Behind
1 41 Kurt Busch Chevy Monster Energy 191.582 28.938 Leader
2 1 Jamie McMurray Chevy McDonald's 190.130 29.159 –0.234
3 6 Trevor Bayne Ford Advocare 189.987 29.181 –0.256
4 31 Ryan Newman Chevy Caterpillar 189.961 29.185 –0.260
5 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Ford Ford EcoBoost 189.863 29.200 –0.275
6 4 Kevin Harvick Chevy Jimmy John's 189.779 29.213 –0.288
7 19 Carl Edwards Toyota Arris 189.766 29.215 –0.290
8 3 Austin Dillon Chevy Dow 189.681 29.228 –0.303
9 78 Martin Truex Jr Toyota Furniture Row 189.364 29.277 –0.352
10 44 Brian Scott Ford Twisted Tea 188.591 29.397 –0.472
11 5 Kasey Kahne Chevy Panasonic 187.196 29.616 –0.691
12 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Ground 190.385 29.120 –0.195
13 20 Matt Kenseth Toyota Dollar General 190.260 29.139 –0.214
14 16 Greg Biffle Ford Roush Performance 190.182 29.151 –0.226
15 13 Casey Mears Chevy GEICO 190.150 29.156 –0.231
16 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevy Nationwide 189.818 29.207 –0.282
17 2 Brad Keselowski Ford AutoTrader 189.144 29.311 –0.386
18 14 Ty Dillon Chevy Bass Pro Shops 189.138 29.312 –0.387
19 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevy Lowe's 188.790 29.366 –0.441
20 42 Kyle Larson Chevy Target 188.719 29.377 –0.452
21 27 Paul Menard Chevy Valvoline / Menards 188.713 29.378 –0.453
22 47 AJ Allmendinger Chevy Kroger/Scott Products 188.636 29.390 –0.465
23 21 Ryan Blaney Ford Motorcraft 187.449 29.576 –0.651
24 24 Chase Elliott Chevy NAPA Auto Parts 189.390 29.273 –0.348
25 10 Danica Patrick Chevy Aspen Dental 189.079 29.321 –0.396
26 22 Joey Logano Ford Shell Pennzoil 189.041 29.327 –0.402
27 43 Aric Almirola Ford Smithfield 188.565 29.401 –0.476
28 15 Clint Bowyer Chevy Aaron's 188.028 29.485 –0.560
29 38 Landon Cassill Ford FR8 Auctions 187.837 29.515 –0.590
30 7 Regan Smith Chevy Nikko 187.392 29.585 –0.660
31 34 Chris Buescher Ford CSX – Play it Safe 187.120 29.628 –0.703
32 95 Michael McDowell Chevy Thrivent Financial 185.903 29.822 –0.897
33 23 David Ragan Toyota Dr. Pepper 185.778 29.842 –0.917
34 46 Michael Annett Chevy Pilot Flying J 185.617 29.868 –0.943
35 83 Matt DiBenedetto Toyota Sewanee 185.499 29.887 –0.962
36 98 Cole Whitt Toyota Tweaker Energy Shot 184.039 30.124 –1.199
37 30 Josh Wise Chevy Curtis Key Plumbing 183.820 30.160 –1.235
38 32 Jeffrey Earnhardt Ford Can – Am 180.769 30.669 –1.744
39 18 Kyle Busch Toyota M&M's 75 —-