NASCAR at Bristol qualifying results. Kyle Busch beats brother Kurt Busch to win Food City 500 pole
Brothers Kyle and Kurt Busch will start first and second in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Kyle Busch edged older brother Kurt in Cup Series qualifying Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway to win the pole for the Food City 500 on Sunday. The front row sweep marks the third time the brothers have started 1-2 in a NASCAR race.
Kyle Busch ran a 128.822 mph around the half-mile oval to win his second pole of the season and 29th of his career. Kurt Busch’s 128.804 mph lap fell .002 seconds behind his younger brother’s speed.
Brad Keselowski qualified third, with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fourth and Ryan Blaney fifth. Completing the top 10 were Kyle Larson, Paul Menard, Alex Bowman, Michael McDowell and Joey Logano.
Notables Denny Hamlin (qualified 25th), defending series champion Martin Truex Jr. (26th), Ryan Newman (30th) and Jamie McMurray (31st) surprisingly failed to transfer beyond the first round.
Kevin Harvick, who’s won three of seven races this season, did not turn a lap in the session after crashing in practice earlier Friday. The incident damaged Harvick’s primary car and Stewart-Haas Racing elected to switch to a backup car for the remainder of the weekend, requiring Harvick to start last Sunday regardless of where he qualified.