Blaney P1 in Vegas Cup Qualifying; Sunday’s Starting Lineup

LAS VEGAS, NV – With a respite from strong gusts in the final round of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series knockout qualifying on Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Ryan Blaney posted the fastest lap of the day to earn the pole position for the third race of the season.

After covering the 1.5-mile distance in 28.200 seconds (191.489 mph) — the fastest lap of the day– Blaney will lead the field to the green flag in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM).

Kevin Harvick was second fastest in the money round at 190.248 mph. Kurt Busch, Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, completed a Ford sweep of the top three starting positions after a lap at 190.067 mph.

“Our team did a great job of getting us ready from round to round,” said Blaney, who scored his first pole with Team Penske and the third of his career.

On his first-round lap, Blaney felt a huge gust of wind as he approached turn one, but the wind abated during his runs in the second and final rounds.

“I got blown off into turn one in the first round, but then in the next two rounds I didn’t really feel it,” Blaney said. “The last one, we didn’t get a big gust of wind, and I was able to put together a pretty decent lap.

“I thought our Ford was pretty good over three rounds. The second and third rounds were really good. They (the team) made really good changes to our race car and got us where we needed to be. It’s nice to know we have some good speed, and now it’s about getting it racing well. We’ll work on that Saturday. Hopefully, we’ll be set up for Sunday.”

Reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion and defending race winner Martin Truex Jr. will start fourth in the No. 78 Furniture Row racing Toyota, followed by Kyle Larson in the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

Chase Elliott, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Brad Keselowski, Erik Jones and Joey Logano, respectively, filled positions six through 10 on the grid.

Harvick said the wind presented issues for the drivers getting into turn three.

“I think it really helped us through (turns) one and two,” Harvick said. “I think you usually see a lot more issues into one and two than what we had today, and I think that’s the wind and the direction it was blowing with all the added sideforce that you had.

“You had to be really careful getting into turn three, just enough to get the car up the race track with the wind blowing in that direction.”

Kurt Busch claimed the 12th and final position in the final round, one spot ahead of his brother, Kyle Busch, who will start 13th. Kurt then improved to third when it counted.

Starting Lineup – Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube

1. (12)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, 191.489 mph.

2. (4)  Kevin Harvick, Ford, 190.248 mph.

3. (41)  Kurt Busch, Ford, 190.067 mph.

4. (78)  Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 189.980 mph.

5. (42)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 189.447 mph.

6. (9)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 189.175 mph.

7. (17)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 189.148 mph.

8. (2)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 189.102 mph.

9. (20)  Erik Jones, Toyota, 188.719 mph.

10. (22)  Joey Logano, Ford, 188.640 mph.

11. (14)  Clint Bowyer, Ford, 188.469 mph.

12. (21)  Paul Menard, Ford, 188.442 mph.

13. (18)  Kyle Busch, Toyota, 188.838 mph.

14. (48)  Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 188.712 mph.

15. (34)  Michael McDowell, Ford, 188.607 mph.

16. (3)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 188.442 mph.

17. (24)  William Byron #, Chevrolet, 188.363 mph.

18. (19)  Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 187.865 mph.

19. (11)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 187.846 mph.

20. (88)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 187.441 mph.

21. (95)  Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 187.305 mph.

22. (1)  Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 187.246 mph.

23. (38)  David Ragan, Ford, 187.162 mph.

24. (6)  Trevor Bayne, Ford, 186.413 mph.

25. (31)  Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 187.650 mph.

26. (43)  Darrell Wallace Jr. #, Chevrolet, 187.546 mph.

27. (47)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 186.916 mph.

28. (37)  Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 186.335 mph.

29. (10)  Aric Almirola, Ford, 186.123 mph.

30. (51)  Cole Custer(i), Ford, 185.982 mph.

31. (13)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 185.312 mph.

32. (32)  Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 185.027 mph.

33. (15)  Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 183.418 mph.

34. (72)  Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 182.272 mph.

35. (23)  Gray Gaulding, Toyota, 179.241 mph.

36. (00)  Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 176.292 mph.

37. (55)  Joey Gase(i), Chevrolet, 173.628 mph.

story by Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service