Kyle Busch On Pole for Atlanta Nationwide Race
Trying to erase the disappointment of a runner-up finish in Friday night's truck series race, Busch rattled off a lap of 176.280 mph to put his own no. 54 Toyota Camry on the pole.
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. was second with a lap of 176.173 mph, followed by Kevin Harvick (176.000 mph), Kasey Kahne (175.721) and Denny Hamlin (175.454).
Busch, who lead the Nationwide Series in all-time wins, has yet to post a victory in 14 series starts this season.
"I had to catch it a few times and try to stay as much in the gas as I could to get back to the stripe. It wasn't pretty, but it certainly was the fastest," Busch said. "I figured once I made that mistake I wasn't even going to be on the pole to start with. I figured I didn't run faster than the guys who were ahead of me, but I had enough built up that I could give it away. If I didn't slip it probably would have been real ugly for the competition."
Sam Hornish, Jr., series points leader Elliott Sadler, Brad Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Mike Bliss made up the rest of the top ten. John Jackson was the lone non-qualifier.
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