Austin Dillon Leads the Way in Cup Qualifying at Chicagoland

JOLIET, IL – Austin Dillon earned his third Busch Pole Award of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Saturday evening at Chicagoland Speedway, his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet posting a speed of 176.263 mph around the 1.5-mile track.

Kevin Harvick will start second, his fifth front-row start of the season in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate, Dillon’s RCR teammate Daniel Hemric was third fastest, seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson was fourth and Kurt Busch will roll out fifth on the grid.

The qualifying order is provisional until Sunday morning, but it remained a source of promise, especially for Dillon, the 2018 Daytona 500 winner who hasn’t had a top-20 finish in the last four races this season and has only a pair of top-10 finishes in total this year. The pole position, Dillon conceded, was a bit of a pleasant surprise compared to where he had run in practice earlier Saturday.

“You don’t usually see a guy that was 21st and 25th in both practice sessions jump up to the pole but I actually felt really confident in our car in the second practice,’’ Dillon said. “When we put on our stickers (tires) we had our car too low. We were hitting the track. So our speed wasn’t there because of that. .. I felt confident that our car was good and driving good. We just needed to get off [hitting] the track and we did and we went really fast. It was a good lap.’’

His teammate Hemric was equally as enthusiastic. Third place is a career best start for the 28-year-old first-year Cup driver.

“We all enjoy coming to these places where you can try to find little advantages throughout the weekend, practices and qualifying to try and dial in your car to have some versatility to it,’’ Hemric said. “If you can do that and maintain grip, it gives you more opportunities to move.

“I’m a big fan of this place and a big fan of all of the tracks like this. I’m excited about our speed there in our Camaro ZL1 and hopefully it’s a sign of what’s to come in the race.’’

Johnson will be making his best start since winning the pole position at Texas two months ago and Busch will similarly be making his best start since winning the outside pole at Bristol in April.

Michael McDowell, who will roll off from the seventh position, earned the best start in the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford this season.

Defending race winner Kyle Busch was 17th fastest in qualifying, one position ahead of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate and fellow four-time 2019 race winner Martin Truex Jr.

Qualifying Results – Camping World 400

           1. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 176.263 mph.

           2. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 176.091 mph.

           3. (8) Daniel Hemric #, Chevrolet, 175.959 mph.

           4. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 175.678 mph.

           5. (1) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 175.558 mph.

           6. (14) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 175.421 mph.

           7. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford, 175.393 mph.

           8. (88) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 175.188 mph.

           9. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 175.114 mph.

           10. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 175.092 mph.

           11. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet, 174.933 mph.

           12. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 174.865 mph.

           13. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 174.667 mph.

           14. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 174.576 mph.

           15. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford, 174.543 mph.

           16. (6) Ryan Newman, Ford, 174.531 mph.

           17. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 174.379 mph.

           18. (19) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 174.340 mph.

           19. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 173.986 mph.

           20. (13) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 173.818 mph.

           21. (20) Erik Jones, Toyota, 173.801 mph.

           22. (36) Matt Tifft #, Ford, 173.723 mph.

           23. (47) Ryan Preece #, Chevrolet, 173.327 mph.

           24. (38) David Ragan, Ford, 173.260 mph.

           25. (21) Paul Menard, Ford, 173.244 mph.

           26. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 173.166 mph.

           27. (43) Bubba Wallace, Chevrolet, 173.110 mph.

           28. (37) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 172.783 mph.

           29. (41) Daniel Suarez, Ford, 172.596 mph.

           30. (95) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 172.271 mph.

           31. (32) Corey LaJoie, Ford, 171.690 mph.

           32. (15) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 171.358 mph.

           33. (52) Bayley Currey(i), Ford, 170.665 mph.

           34. (00) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 170.336 mph.

           35. (51) BJ McLeod(i), Ford, 169.274 mph.

           36. (77) Quin Houff, Chevrolet, 168.188 mph.

           37. (53) Josh Bilicki(i), Chevrolet, 168.088 mph.

           38. (27) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 167.780 mph.

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service