KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Martin Truex Jr. will start on the pole Saturday night in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway.
Truex turned a lap of 190.921 mph in the final round of qualifying Friday night, earning his first pole since April 2012 at Texas and giving himself some confidence at a track he’s come to love.
Truex led 173 of 267 laps before finishing second in 2012. He finished second again in that year’s fall race. Last spring, he started fourth and led 95 laps before finishing ninth.
“Feels good to get another pole. It’s been a long time,” said Truex, who once had the pole for an Xfinity race at Kansas. “We’ve been really close with our Furniture Row team the past two years, qualified second a handful of times and been right there. Really proud of everyone.”
Matt Kenseth qualified second at 190.564 mph. Denny Hamlin was third, followed by Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski. Points leader Kevin Harvick failed to make it out of the first round and will start 26th.
“Hopefully, the extra time we spent in race trim pays off for us,” Harvick said.
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