Kevin Harvick Wins His Fourth Pole of the Season

Kevin Harvick wins his fourth pole of 2019
Sean Gardner/Getty Images

No practice made perfect on Saturday at Pocono Raceway.

Without benefit a mock qualifying run in practice, Kevin Harvick nevertheless made a decisive run to the pole for Sunday's Gander RV 400 at the Tricky Triangle.

Qualifying near the end of the session, Harvick navigated the 2.5-mile distance in 51.707 seconds (174.058 mph) in beating out second-place qualifier Joey Logano (173.377 mph) by a whopping 0.203 seconds to secure his first Busch Pole Award at Pocono, his fourth of the season and the 29th of his career.

"We didn't do a qualifying run because we were just scrambling a little bit in race trim and trying to get our car right in race trim," said Harvick, who claimed his first victory of the season last Sunday at New Hampshire. "Our (Stewart-Haas Racing) teammates did some qualifying runs, and we tried to match some of the things they did and adapt and adjust from there.

"In the end, sometimes it's better to just wing it, and these guys do a good job when you're scrambling and just winging it. So it was a good day today, and hopefully we can keep it rolling tomorrow."

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Harvick's teammate, Aric Almirola, qualified third at 173.164 mph, as Ford drivers took the top the spots on the grid. Fourth-place qualifier Erik jones (173.110 mph) had the fastest Toyota, and fifth-place Austin Dillon (172.659 mph) led the Chevrolet contingent.

Coming off consecutive third-place finishes in his last two races, Jones thought his lap might stand up for the pole—before the three Fords eclipsed his speed.

"I thought with that lap we would have it," Jones said. "That's kind of frustrating. We have a fast car, and I thought we had a shot at the pole. It's kind of frustrating, but we are starting upfront either way, so we'll make a good day of it.

"We were good in race trim and I was pretty happy with it. That's always a good feeling."

Jones is 14th in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings, a tenuous 28 points inside the cut line for the Playoffs with five races left in the regular season.

Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch (winner of the last two Pocono races), William Byron, Kurt Busch and Daniel Suarez qualified sixth through 10th, respectively.

Johnson and Suarez are currently tied for 17th in the Cup Series standings, 17 points behind 16th-place Clint Bowyer, who holds the last Playoff-eligible position and who qualified 16th on Saturday.

RACE LINEUP

Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
1 4 Kevin Harvick Busch Beer Gen X Ford 51.707 174.058
2 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 51.91 173.377
3 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 51.974 173.164
4 20 Erik Jones Reser's Main St Bistro Toyota 51.99 173.11
5 3 Austin Dillon Freightliner Chevrolet 52.126 172.659
6 48 Jimmie Johnson Ally Chevrolet 52.148 172.586
7 18 Kyle Busch Skittles Toyota 52.196 172.427
8 24 William Byron Liberty University Chevrolet 52.213 172.371
9 1 Kurt Busch Monster Energy Chevrolet 52.321 172.015
10 41 Daniel Suarez Haas Automation Ford 52.346 171.933
11 19 Martin Truex Jr Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Off Road Toyota 52.365 171.871
12 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Ground Toyota 52.388 171.795
13 95 Matt DiBenedetto Toyota Express Maintenance Toyota 52.436 171.638
14 2 Brad Keselowski Alliance Truck Parts Ford 52.482 171.487
15 88 Alex Bowman Nationwide Chevrolet 52.499 171.432
16 14 Clint Bowyer Toco Warranty/Haas Automation Ford 52.545 171.282
17 34 Michael McDowell Long John Silver's Ford 52.597 171.112
18 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Roush Performance Ford 52.618 171.044
19 38 David Ragan MDS Transport Ford 52.623 171.028
20 12 Ryan Blaney MoneyLion Ford 52.638 170.979
21 21 Paul Menard Menards/Duracel Optimum Ford 52.747 170.626
22 8 Daniel Hemric # Caterpillar Chevrolet 52.8 170.455
23 9 Chase Elliott NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet 52.848 170.3
24 6 Ryan Newman Performance Plus Ford 53.002 169.805
25 47 Ryan Preece # Kroger Chevrolet 53.048 169.658
26 43 Bubba Wallace Victory Junction Chevrolet 53.221 169.106
27 36 Matt Tifft # Surface Sunscreen Ford 53.255 168.998
28 37 Chris Buescher Kroger Fast Start Chevrolet 53.301 168.852
29 42 Kyle Larson Credit One Bank Chevrolet 53.37 168.634
30 32 Corey LaJoie Adirondack Tree Surgeons Ford 53.417 168.486
31 0 Landon Cassill(i) Mane N Tail Chevrolet 53.861 167.097
32 13 Ty Dillon GEICO Military Chevrolet 53.979 166.732
33 53 Josh Bilicki(i) Token 4 Token Chevrolet 54.8 164.234
34 51 BJ McLeod(i) JACOB COMPANIES/Pocono Organics Ford 54.809 164.207
35 15 Ross Chastain(i) Chevrolet 54.89 163.964
36 27 Reed Sorenson Lehigh Valley Phantoms Chevrolet 55.423 162.387
37 77 Quin Houff Rapid City Rush Chevrolet 55.539 162.048
38 52 Austin Theriault Trick Shot/Bangor Savings Bank Ford 56.011 160.683

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