Harvick wins Nationwide pole at Talladega
Harvick is driving a Kevin Harvick Inc. car in the race, which is scheduled for Saturday but with thunderstorms expected to threaten the area could be postponed to Monday.
Starting on the outside of Harvick will be Roush Fenway Racing’s Carl Edwards, whose lap was 185.754 mph around the 2.66-mile track.
Rounding out the top five were Roush Fenway Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr., JR Motorsports rookie Steve Arpin (making his series debut) and ML Motorsports’ Shelby Howard.
Missing the race were MacHill Motorsports’ Kevin Lepage, Day Enterprises Racing’s Willie Allen, JD Motorsports’ Jeremy Clements, Specialty Racing’s Josh Wise and Stratus Racing Group’s Derrike Cope.
The Nationwide drivers practiced Thursday, and prior to practice NASCAR took parts from the Bob Schacht Motorsports and Day Enterprises cars as well as the fire extinguishers from Brian Keselowski’s car for violations found during opening-day inspection.
Schacht’s car, driven by Bobby Gerhart, had more than four mounting bolt holes in the lower A-frame spring bucket and also bolts that were not solid.