Kenseth wins pole in Kansas
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| Matt Kenseth |
To learn how to master the track that continued to jinx him, Kyle Busch paid close attention to the way Matt Kenseth drove Kansas Speedway.
Though Kenseth was helpful, he apparently kept a thousandth of a second in his pocket. That was the margin by which Kenseth edged Busch in Friday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series knockout qualifying session at the 1.5-mile track.
Touring Kansas in 28.112 seconds (192.089 mph) to Busch's 28.113 seconds (192.082 mph), Kenseth earned the top starting spot for Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400 (at 2:15 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the fifth race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and the second race in the Chase's Round of 12.
"Smoked him!" chortled Kenseth, as Busch emerged from the radio room after an interview on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. "Smoked him!"
The Coors Light Pole Award was Kenseth's first of the season, his third at Kansas and the 18th of his career. With Busch claiming the second spot on the grid and teammate Carl Edwards (191.015 mph) qualifying third, JGR cars will start 1-2-3 for the first time since August at Bristol.
"It's nice to get a pole," Kenseth said. "I feel like our qualifying hasn't been nearly as good this year as it has been in the rest of the years I've been at JGR. We barely got it — it was by a thousandth, or something like that.
"Obviously, our Camrys have been fast … Round one we were pretty decent — it was off a little bit — and then round three it was just right. We almost got beat, but it was as good of a lap as we were going to run. They did a good job today."
[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Kenseth joined Joe Gibbs Racing in 2013. Busch didn't get his first top five at Kansas until the spring race of 2015, which started a run of third, fifth and first in consecutive events at a track where his average finish is 19.2.
Busch's second-place qualifying run on Friday was his best so far at the 1.5-mile track, and he freely acknowledged learning from Kenseth.
"We've talked a little bit, and I've certainly used some of the things that we've talked about with all of my teammates in order to get better here," Busch told the NASCAR Wire Service. "Just looking and studying about technique and things that he does and being able to work on how Matt carries his car around the track and where he makes his speed and me trying to be able to do the same thing.
"A lot of it has just come through technique and just being able to mimic the things that he does, and we've gotten a lot better at that. Certainly, our balance could have been a tick better in order to give me a little more security and feeling in order to go out there and run two thousandths faster."
Chase driver Martin Truex Jr. made it a quartet of Toyotas on the front two rows with a fourth-place qualifying effort at 190.786 mph. Alex Bowman was the only non-Chase driver to crack the top five, turning in a lap at 190.315 mph.
Of the five drivers who finished 30th or worse last Sunday at Charlotte and put their advancement to the Chase's Round of 8 in jeopardy, Joey Logano had the best recovery, qualifying sixth.
"That's better than where we have been," Logano said. "We qualified 14th here the last two times we've come here. We made a serious effort at changing some things here with the way we qualified to start closer to the front which is important.
"That's kind of where we were. We were about a sixth-place car today, and we need to find a little more, but we made progress."
Denny Hamlin, 30th at Charlotte and the eighth-place Chase driver entering Sunday's race, will start seventh. Kevin Harvick and Austin Dillon, both currently below the Round of 8 cutoff, qualified 11th and 12th, respectively.
Chase Elliott, victim of a late wreck and resulting 33rd-place finish last Sunday, failed to make the final round on Friday and will start 13th. Two other Chase drivers qualified outside the top 12: Kurt Busch (15th) and Charlotte winner Jimmie Johnson (19th).
"From Round 1 to Round 2, the car was much tighter," said Johnson, who was 10th in the first round. "We attempted to free it up, but I'm not sure some of those adjustments didn't change the ride height of the car and affected the splitter orientation with the ground. So, maybe we were on the splitter a little bit.
"But a ton tighter than what we had in the opening round. But, other than that, our car was repeating very well earlier in the day so kind of leaning that way. I don't know if it is good or bad, but I'm not accustomed to qualifying well all the time. I'm used to racing through traffic. I'm not worried about this; we'll just get that Lowe's Chevy up there."
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 DEWALT FLEXVOLT Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 1st
What does it mean get your first pole award of the season?
“It's nice to get a pole. I feel like our qualifying hasn't been nearly as good this year as it has been in the rest of the years I've been at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing). We barely got it – it was by a thousandth, or something like that. Obviously our Camrys have been fast. Our DEWALT FLEXVOLT Camry has been driving good and all the right adjustments. Round one we were pretty decent, it was off a little bit and then round three it was just right. We almost got beat, but it was as good of a lap as we were going to run. They did a good job today."
How it feel to have four Toyota drivers starting together in the front two rows?
“It's great having such talented teammates and other crew chiefs in the stable and everything. It also stinks at times because it's really, really hard to beat them. Our Camrys are pretty fast this weekend, but anything can happen, as you saw last week. Everybody has been stepping up lately, I think all the cars towards the front of the Chase are really fast. The Hendrick cars really stepped it up the last few weeks and the 4 (Kevin Harvick) is always a threat. There's a lot of good cars out there. We have to go race 400 miles on Sunday and hopefully we can stay up front and be in the mix."
Do you enjoy racing at Kansas Speedway?
“It's been a good track for me in the past, but you never know what's going to happen. As you saw last week, anything can happen in these races. If it happens to someone else, it can happen to you. We're going to go out there and race hard. It's a good start. Hopefully we can keep our DEWALT FLEXVOLT Toyota up there somewhere and have a good run."
Do you remember the last time you won a pole?
“No, I don't remember stuff like that very good."
How does this starting position change the start of the race for you?
“There's no body in front of you. You always want to qualify good, and track position is really important and you want to get that pit stall down there and be able to control the restarts. In the Spring we had a really good car here. I never got control of the restarts and we ran second a lot, restarted second a lot to the 78 (Martin Truex Jr.) and the 18 (Kyle Busch) and I could never get through one and two and get the lead the rest of the way. I think it's definitely an advantage to have control of that, but you have to be able to keep that all day."
Does the inside or outside groove matter at Kansas?
“A lot of it is situation dependent when you get back farther in traffic. I feel like it does for sure. The track has changed quite a bit. They did a really good job with the repave – one of the best ones we've had and it came in rather quickly and they did a good job with making it a little different. It seems like the middle is the preferred line now once the race gets going after a few laps on tires, it kind of opens up the bottom and opens up the top and lends to pretty good racing."
What does it mean to have four Toyota drivers starting together in the first two rows of Sunday's race?
“We've all had – the year has been pretty solid for the organization. We all had a pretty good day. I think we had five of us in the top-seven or something like that. I'm just glad we finally got one – those guys have gotten a lot of them this year, the 78 (Martin Truex Jr.) and 19 (Carl Edwards) and all those guys have won poles, everyone except for me so I was glad to finally get one. It's great having teammates that good, but it's also hard to beat them. I was glad we got one today."
Can you compare this year at this point in the season versus last year at this time?
“I try not to get too far one way or another. We had a really good run last week, a good finish. Some people had some trouble, but with that being said, it's only one race out of three and if it happened to someone else last week it can just as easily happen to us this week. You just never know what is going to happen, never like to take anything for granted. I'm glad we came here and were strong today and hopefully we can get it running good in race trim tomorrow and have a strong day on Sunday and see where we're at after that."
Do you feel pressure to win at Kansas so you don't have to worry about Talladega next week?
“I think you want to win every weekend. With this Chase format, there's always talk about winning and desperation and all this stuff. I've never been at a race I didn't want to win and have done everything I could to win the race within a certain extent. For me, that doesn't really change. You want to have good weeks every week, you want to win and finish as high as you can. The higher you finish, the better you are in points – you always try to do that. I don't think you do any extra. For instance, the 48 (Jimmie Johnson), I don't think he's going to ride around in the back because he's already won. I think everybody shows up with the idea of trying to win."
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M's Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 2nd
How has Matt Kenseth helped you learn more about driving at Kansas Speedway?
“We've talked a little bit and I've certainly used some of the things that we've talked about with all of my teammates in order to get better here. Just looking and studying about technique and things that he does and being able to work on how Matt (Kenseth) carries his car around the track and where he makes his speed and me trying to be able to do the same thing. A lot of it has just come through technique and just being able to mimic the things that he does and we've gotten a lot better at that. Certainly our balance could have been a tick better in order to give me a little more security and feeling in order to go out there and run two-thousandths faster."
Do you feel confident here after getting winning here in May?
“Certainly would like to think so. I'm running well here the last couple of times, in the Fall I think we've had top-five finishes and being able to win here in the Spring was definitely a confidence booster and being able to understand and know that I can do it. There were a couple of guys that were fast in May that I'm sure we'll have to contend with this time around. It's just a testament to Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota to be able to do what we've done and have three of them Joe Gibbs in the front three spots and then Martin Truex there in fourth, that was really good."
Do you have to change your process or approach when the track changes?
“I certainly do. You have to change what you're doing as the pace slows down and as the pace does and where you move around the race track. Trying to utilize those tools and understand where he was running in some of those laps I was looking at – that was certainly confusing and challenging, but you try to go back and watch the race at the same time as you're looking at the data and see where he's at on the race track and that will tell you pretty good answers. Probably giving away too many secrets for all the younger guys to figure out so I better stop talking."
How does it feel to approach the Chase again as the defending Champion?
“I would say just trying to stay pretty even. Don't get too excited, don't get too down. We certainly had a good first round – that went really well for us. We've got a good start to the next round with the finish that we had last year at Charlotte, so that's a start. Anything can happen so we just have to make sure we can take what's given to us like we did last year. There were some times that we didn't get the finishes that we wanted, but we were still able to transfer through. This year we will try to get the finish we do want and make our way through the rounds if possible and get to the end. Certainly you're on the highest of highs at the checkered flag at Homestead last year, it just continues to diminish all through this year because you know – you try to repeat and if you can repeat you'll be at the highest of highs again, but eventually in about six weeks your reign is over so you try to repeat if you can."
What is your mindset racing at Talladega next weekend?
“I'll start it out the same way I just answered the previous question. You just try to stay even. You try not to get too worried about it or too jacked up about it or down about it. It's just another race that we have to go to on the schedule. I've been really excited to go there before and think I have bad luck out of my way and I'm going to win it and I'm on the hook. Then, there's other times when I'm just beat from all the bad luck that I've had lately or around that race and I end up second or something. It can go either way for you, it's just a crap shoot. You try to take what is given to you in that event and move on. Obviously a couple years ago it was very hard to handle, getting pushed out and trying to stay out of everyone's way and then last year we ran the race as though we had nothing to lose and I think finished top-10 somewhere and barely made it in by one point to transfer through. It was kind of a crazy outcome."
CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 XFINITY Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 3rd
How was your qualifying lap?
“Well the driver really messed them up. I had to run an extra lap because I screwed up the first one and they turned a lot of bolts, air pressure adjustments and that last lap went as perfect as it could go. I know it's not the pole – we have plenty of those this year, but I'm really proud of the effort, I think my guys did a really good job not quitting and getting a good starting spot for us."
Did the extra lap make a difference to the grip of the tires?
“For me, I hope that was the difference, I felt like the car was balanced well. I thought we were shot after that first run. I didn't think we had any shot at a top-five. Proud of my XFINITY guys, that was pretty cool. Hopefully we can run well – you know how important this place is to me."
Lineup
| Pos. | # | Driver | Make | Sponsor | Speed | Time | Behind |
| 1 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Toyota | DeWalt Flexvolt | 192.089 | 28.112 | Leader |
| 2 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | M&M's Core | 192.082 | 28.113 | 0.001 |
| 3 | 19 | Carl Edwards | Toyota | XFINITY | 191.015 | 28.27 | 0.158 |
| 4 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr | Toyota | Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats | 190.786 | 28.304 | 0.192 |
| 5 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | Nationwide | 190.315 | 28.374 | 0.262 |
| 6 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | Shell Pennzoil | 190.221 | 28.388 | 0.276 |
| 7 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Express | 190.188 | 28.393 | 0.281 |
| 8 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | Miller Lite | 190.087 | 28.408 | 0.296 |
| 9 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 189.927 | 28.432 | 0.32 |
| 10 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevrolet | Dillons | 189.84 | 28.445 | 0.333 |
| 11 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Outback Chevrolet SS | 189.58 | 28.484 | 0.372 |
| 12 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | Dow Coating Materials | 189.567 | 28.486 | 0.374 |
| 13 | 24 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | SunEnergy1 | 189.954 | 28.428 | 0.316 |
| 14 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Code 3 Assoc. / Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS | 189.94 | 28.43 | 0.318 |
| 15 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | Monster Energy / Haas Automation Chevrolet SS | 189.773 | 28.455 | 0.343 |
| 16 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | FVP / Menards | 189.76 | 28.457 | 0.345 |
| 17 | 21 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center | 189.54 | 28.49 | 0.378 |
| 18 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | Ford | Fastenal Ford Fusion | 189.387 | 28.513 | 0.401 |
| 19 | 10 | Danica Patrick | Chevrolet | Nature's Bakery Chevrolet SS | 189.241 | 28.535 | 0.423 |
| 20 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | Farmers Insurance | 189.201 | 28.541 | 0.429 |
| 21 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe's | 188.976 | 28.575 | 0.463 |
| 22 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | Ford Pass | 188.93 | 28.582 | 0.47 |
| 23 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | CESSNA | 188.094 | 28.709 | 0.597 |
| 24 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | Target | 186.034 | 29.027 | 0.915 |
| 25 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | Advocare Ford Fusion | 188.376 | 28.666 | 0.554 |
| 26 | 7 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Fire Alarm Services, Inc Chevrolet | 187.669 | 28.774 | 0.662 |
| 27 | 83 | Matt DiBenedetto | Toyota | Scorpyd | 187.578 | 28.788 | 0.676 |
| 28 | 23 | David Ragan | Toyota | Dr. Pepper | 187.513 | 28.798 | 0.686 |
| 29 | 13 | Casey Mears | Chevrolet | GEICO | 187.441 | 28.809 | 0.697 |
| 30 | 34 | Chris Buescher | Ford | Love's Travel Stops | 187.331 | 28.826 | 0.714 |
| 31 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | 5-Hour Energy | 187.246 | 28.839 | 0.727 |
| 32 | 44 | Brian Scott | Ford | GoBowling Ford | 186.819 | 28.905 | 0.793 |
| 33 | 95 | Michael McDowell | Chevrolet | Thrivent Financial | 186.419 | 28.967 | 0.855 |
| 34 | 38 | Landon Cassill | Ford | Snap Fitness | 185.052 | 29.181 | 1.069 |
| 35 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Ford | Smithfield | 184.824 | 29.217 | 1.105 |
| 36 | 55 | Cole Whitt | Chevrolet | TBD | 183.163 | 29.482 | 1.37 |
| 37 | 46 | Michael Annett | Chevrolet | Northland Oil | 181.898 | 29.687 | 1.575 |
| 38 | 32 | Joey Gase | Ford | Midwest Transplant Network | 180.56 | 29.907 | 1.795 |
| 39 | 98 | Reed Sorenson | Chevrolet | Harrahs North Kansas City | 180.403 | 29.933 | 1.821 |
| 40 | 30 | Josh Wise | Chevrolet | Curtis Key Plumbing | 179.85 | 30.025 | 1.913 |