Harvick Leads Ford Domination in Qualifying at Texas

Credit Tony Gutierrez - AP Photo

FORT WORTH, TX – RIS – Kevin Harvick shook off the disappointment of a horrible weekend at Martinsville and powered to the pole position for Sunday's O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.  That was helped somewhat by nine drivers failing to qualify for the event.

Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Kasey Kahne, Chris Beuscher, Timmy Hill, Erik Jones, and Derricke Cope will all have to start from the back of the field after failing the inspection prior to end of the first round of qualifying on Friday.

Harvick swept all three sessions of the knockout qualifying session with an average lap speed of 198.405 mph, saving the fastest lap of the day for the final round.

Ryan Blaney qualified second, Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, Clint Bowyer was third, Joey Logano was fourth and Brad Keselowski was fifth as Ford Performance swept the top-five starting positions.

The pole is Harvick’s second of the season (he also won the pole at Atlanta) and the 19th of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career.

“I’m just really proud of everybody on our Ford. It’s been a stressful day – coming in and breaking in a new race track and then running as fast as we had to run in qualifying,” Harvick said.

“I have to say thank you to the Xfinity guys (at SHR) for letting me run that car this weekend. I really feel like the reps allowed us to learn some things in that car that I was able to apply here.

“It’s been an interesting day and I’m looking forward to trying to get our car right for the race and try to get in Victory Lane on Sunday so (track president) Eddie Gossage will leave me alone.”

Completing the top 12 starters: Jamie McMurray, Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Trevor Bayne.

“We don't feel good about anybody missing qualifying, but it is something that happens when teams are pushing the envelope. Teams know our expectations and every team was afforded the opportunity to go through inspection," said Elton Sawyer, NASCAR's vice president of officiating and technical inspection. "Some needed multiple tries and some weren't able to get their cars ready in time to qualify."

Ford Performance and Harvick dominated the second 10-minte round of qualifying as Harvick topped the session with an average lap speed of 197.751 mph – the fastest lap run of the day at that time.

Bowyer ended up second, Keselowski third, Logano fourth and Blaney fifth. Also advancing to the final round were Truex, Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Newman, Stenhouse, McMurray and Bayne.

In all that round, Ford drivers swept the top five and eight of the top 12 positions.

It was another story for nine others and especially seven-time champion Johnson.  Johnson spun late in the first round and did not return for the second round since fresh tires were needed.  He posted the fourth-fastest speed.

Time Trial Results: 21st Annual O'Reilly Auto Parts 500, Texas Motor Speedway

Track Qualifying Record: Matt Kenseth, 11/02/14, 27.095 sec, 199.299 mph

Qualifying Round: 1
Pos, Driver, Car, Time, Speed, Lap #, # Laps, -Fastest, -Next
1) Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Jimmy John's Ford, 27.565 sec, 195.901 mph, 1, 1, 0.000, 0.000
2) Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Haas Automation Ford, 27.622, 195.496, 1, 1, 0.057, 0.057
3) Trevor Bayne, No. 6 Performance Plus Motor Oil Ford, 27.631, 195.433, 1, 1, 0.066, 0.009
4) Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, 27.697, 194.967, 1, 1, 0.132, 0.066
5) Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Sherwin-Williams Emerald Chevrolet, 27.706, 194.904, 2, 2, 0.141, 0.009
6) Ryan Blaney, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, 27.775, 194.419, 1, 1, 0.210, 0.069
7) Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER BOATS Toyota, 27.781, 194.377, 1, 1, 0.216, 0.006
8) Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Let's Go Places Toyota, 27.868, 193.771, 3, 3, 0.303, 0.087
9) Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet, 27.943, 193.251, 1, 1, 0.378, 0.075
10) Daniel Suarez #, No. 19 STANLEY Toyota, 27.980, 192.995, 1, 1, 0.415, 0.037
11) Ty Dillon #, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 27.991, 192.919, 1, 1, 0.426, 0.011
12) Paul Menard, No. 27 Dutch Boy/Menards Chevrolet, 28.063, 192.424, 1, 1, 0.498, 0.072
13) AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Kroger ClickList Chevrolet, 28.071, 192.369, 1, 1, 0.506, 0.008
14) Danica Patrick, No. 10 TaxAct Ford, 28.079, 192.315, 1, 1, 0.514, 0.008
15) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Ford EcoBoost Ford, 28.090, 192.239, 1, 1, 0.525, 0.011
16) Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota, 28.130, 191.966, 1, 1, 0.565, 0.040
17) Ryan Newman, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, 28.144, 191.870, 1, 1, 0.579, 0.014
18) Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 28.161, 191.755, 1, 1, 0.596, 0.017
19) Kurt Busch, No. 41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Ford, 28.176, 191.652, 1, 1, 0.611, 0.015
20) Landon Cassill, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 28.243, 191.198, 1, 1, 0.678, 0.067
21) Michael McDowell, No. 95 WRL General Contractors Chevrolet, 28.260, 191.083, 1, 1, 0.695, 0.017
22) Aric Almirola, No. 43 Smithfield Ford, 28.291, 190.873, 2, 2, 0.726, 0.031
23) David Ragan, No. 38 Camping World/Good Sam Ford, 28.298, 190.826, 1, 3, 0.733, 0.007
24) Corey LaJoie #, No. 83 Dustless Blasting Toyota, 28.318, 190.691, 4, 4, 0.753, 0.020
25) Austin Dillon, No. 3 DOW Energy & Water Chevrolet, 28.339, 190.550, 2, 5, 0.774, 0.021
26) Matt DiBenedetto, No. 32 Can-Am/Kappa Ford, 28.371, 190.335, 4, 4, 0.806, 0.032
27) JJ Yeley(i), No. 7 Accell Construction, Inc. Chevrolet, 28.452, 189.793, 1, 2, 0.887, 0.081
28) Cole Whitt, No. 72 RTIC Coolers Chevrolet, 28.542, 189.195, 5, 5, 0.977, 0.090
29) Gray Gaulding #, No. 23 Dr Pepper Toyota, 28.683, 188.265, 7, 8, 1.118, 0.141
30) Reed Sorenson, No. 15 Xchange of America Chevrolet, 28.695, 188.186, 2, 2, 1.130, 0.012
31) Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 33 Little Joes Autos/Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet, 29.532, 182.852, 1, 2, 1.967, 0.837
32) Kyle Larson, No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet, 0.000, 0.000, 0, 0, -----, -----
33) Chase Elliott, No. 24 NAPA Chevrolet, 0.000, 0.000, 0, 0, -----, -----
34) Kyle Busch, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, 0.000, 0.000, 0, 0, -----, -----
35) Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet, 0.000, 0.000, 0, 0, -----, -----
36) Erik Jones #, No. 77 5-hour ENERGY Extra Strength Toyota, 0.000, 0.000, 0, 0, -----, -----
37) Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet, 0.000, 0.000, 0, 0, -----, -----
38) Chris Buescher, No. 37 Scott Products Chevrolet, 0.000, 0.000, 0, 0, -----, -----
39) Timmy Hill(i), No. 51 Fenton Motors Chevrolet, 0.000, 0.000, 0, 0, -----, -----
40) Derrike Cope, No. 55 Low T Centers Toyota, 0.000, 0.000, 0, 0, -----, -----

Qualifying Round: 2
Pos, Driver, Car, Time, Speed, Lap #, # Laps, -Fastest, -Next
1) Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Jimmy John's Ford, 27.307 sec, 197.751 mph, 2, 2, 0.000, 0.000
2) Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Haas Automation Ford, 27.379, 197.231, 1, 1, 0.072, 0.072
3) Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, 27.428, 196.879, 1, 1, 0.121, 0.049
4) Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 27.459, 196.657, 1, 1, 0.152, 0.031
5) Ryan Blaney, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, 27.459, 196.657, 1, 1, 0.152, 0.000
6) Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER BOATS Toyota, 27.516, 196.249, 1, 1, 0.209, 0.057
7) Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Let's Go Places Toyota, 27.551, 196.000, 1, 1, 0.244, 0.035
8) Kurt Busch, No. 41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Ford, 27.580, 195.794, 3, 3, 0.273, 0.029
9) Ryan Newman, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, 27.622, 195.496, 3, 3, 0.315, 0.042
10) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Ford EcoBoost Ford, 27.639, 195.376, 2, 2, 0.332, 0.017
11) Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Sherwin-Williams Emerald Chevrolet, 27.643, 195.348, 1, 1, 0.336, 0.004
12) Trevor Bayne, No. 6 Performance Plus Motor Oil Ford, 27.677, 195.108, 3, 3, 0.370, 0.034
13) Michael McDowell, No. 95 WRL General Contractors Chevrolet, 27.703, 194.925, 3, 3, 0.396, 0.026
14) Ty Dillon #, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 27.714, 194.847, 3, 3, 0.407, 0.011
15) Landon Cassill, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 27.734, 194.707, 1, 1, 0.427, 0.020
16) AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Kroger ClickList Chevrolet, 27.781, 194.377, 3, 3, 0.474, 0.047
17) Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota, 27.823, 194.084, 1, 5, 0.516, 0.042
18) Aric Almirola, No. 43 Smithfield Ford, 27.855, 193.861, 2, 2, 0.548, 0.032
19) Danica Patrick, No. 10 TaxAct Ford, 27.876, 193.715, 1, 2, 0.569, 0.021
20) Daniel Suarez #, No. 19 STANLEY Toyota, 27.937, 193.292, 2, 2, 0.630, 0.061
21) David Ragan, No. 38 Camping World/Good Sam Ford, 28.058, 192.458, 2, 2, 0.751, 0.121
22) Paul Menard, No. 27 Dutch Boy/Menards Chevrolet, 28.254, 191.123, 2, 2, 0.947, 0.196
23) Corey LaJoie #, No. 83 Dustless Blasting Toyota, 28.614, 188.719, 1, 1, 1.307, 0.360
24) Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet, 0.000, 0.000, 0, 0, -----, -----

Qualifying Round: 3
Pos, Driver, Car, Speed, Time, Lap #, # Laps, -Fastest, -Next
1) Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Jimmy John's Ford, 198.405 mph, 27.217 sec, 1, 1, 0.000, 0.000
2) Ryan Blaney, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, 198.020, 27.270, 1, 1, 0.053, 0.053
3) Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Haas Automation Ford, 198.020, 27.270, 1, 1, 0.053, 0.000
4) Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 197.759, 27.306, 1, 1, 0.089, 0.036
5) Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, 197.563, 27.333, 1, 3, 0.116, 0.027
6) Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Sherwin-Williams Emerald Chevrolet, 196.492, 27.482, 1, 1, 0.265, 0.149
7) Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER BOATS Toyota, 196.421, 27.492, 1, 1, 0.275, 0.010
8) Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Let's Go Places Toyota, 196.299, 27.509, 2, 2, 0.292, 0.017
9) Ryan Newman, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, 195.525, 27.618, 1, 1, 0.401, 0.109
10) Kurt Busch, No. 41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Ford, 195.002, 27.692, 2, 2, 0.475, 0.074
11) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Ford EcoBoost Ford, 194.517, 27.761, 1, 1, 0.544, 0.069
12) Trevor Bayne, No. 6 Performance Plus Motor Oil Ford, 192.082, 28.113, 1, 1, 0.896, 0.352