Harvick Wins Las Vegas Pole

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LAS VEGAS, NV – RIS – Despite the unusual sight of cars drafting while qualifying for the pole, Kevin Harvick won the Pennzoil 400 fast lap at at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. With the new rules fully in place to slow the cars and make racing closer, Harvick was able to make his Ford sit on the front row for Sunday’s Monster Energy Cup race.

“The fastest car in qualifying trim is fourth,” Harvick said of the first qualifying session using the new Cup Series rules. “I told them before we qualified that the fastest car won’t get the pole today. In the final round it’s going to come down to where you’re at.

“It’s definitely different. We were able to run the bottom coming to second lap there and that got us to the start-finish line just in time to make it. Definitely a little luck involved there.”

Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott actually had faster laps in the final session but they were disallowed they did not cross the start/finish line before time expired.

Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon and Daniel Hemric rounded out the top five.

David Ragan, Kyle Larson, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Kyle Larson and Joey Logano completed the first 10 qualifiers

Drivers used different strategies in order to turn a fast lap. Because drafting is such a premium with the new package, drivers waited on pit road until the final minutes of each session in order to position themselves in the pack draft.

“It’s different,” Ryan Blaney said. “It’s really the draft you get. It’s a crap shoot at the end of pit road, no one wants to be first and you just hope you kind of distance yourself right to the car in front of you enough to pull you along. I have nothing great to say. I used to have fun on Fridays and that wasn’t very fun. Holding it wide open isn’t my thing.”

Starting Line Up: 22nd Annual Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube - Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Pos, Driver, Car, Time, Speed
1) Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Jimmy John's Ford, 29.914 sec, 180.517 mph
2) Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota, 29.924, 180.457
3) Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Chocolate Bar Toyota, 30.049, 179.706
4) Austin Dillon, No. 3 Dow SILASTIC Silicone Elastomers Chevrolet, 30.082, 179.509
5) Daniel Hemric #, No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet, 30.087, 179.480
6) David Ragan, No. 38 Citgard Heavy Duty Engine Oil Ford, 30.092, 179.450
7) Kyle Larson, No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet, 30.131, 179.217
8) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 30.234, 178.607
9) Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 30.255, 178.483
10) Joey Logano, No. 22 Pennzoil Ford, 30.356, 177.889
11) Alex Bowman, No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet, 30.504, 177.026
12) Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hooters Chevrolet, 30.533, 176.858
13) Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Pennzoil Ford, 30.055, 179.671
14) Ty Dillon, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 30.061, 179.635
15) Paul Menard, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, 30.071, 179.575
16) Michael McDowell, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 30.082, 179.509
17) Clint Bowyer, No. 14 One Cure Ford, 30.096, 179.426
18) Erik Jones, No. 20 Sport Clips Toyota, 30.101, 179.396
19) Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford, 30.132, 179.211
20) William Byron, No. 24 Hertz Chevrolet, 30.163, 179.027
21) Bubba Wallace, No. 43 Transportation Impact Chevrolet, 30.168, 178.998
22) Daniel Suarez, No. 41 Haas Automation Ford, 30.169, 178.992
23) Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 30.174, 178.962
24) Ryan Preece #, No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet, 30.344, 177.959
25) Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 30.283, 178.318
26) Matt DiBenedetto, No. 95 Dumont JETS Toyota, 30.296, 178.241
27) Chris Buescher, No. 37 Natural Light Naturdays Chevrolet, 30.300, 178.218
28) Kurt Busch, No. 1 Star Nursery Chevrolet, 30.310, 178.159
29) Ryan Newman, No. 6 Wyndham Rewards Ford, 30.329, 178.047
30) Corey LaJoie, No. 32 PROSPR Ford, 30.458, 177.293
31) Landon Cassill, No. 00 Manscaped Chevrolet, 30.626, 176.321
32) Parker Kligerman(i), No. 96 Gaunt Brothers Racing Toyota, 30.640, 176.240
33) Cody Ware #, No. 51 Jacob Companies Chevrolet, 31.324, 172.392
34) BJ McLeod(i), No. 52 Mtel-One Ford, 31.820, 169.705
35) Matt Tifft #, No. 36 Surface Sunscreen/Tunity Ford, 32.450, 166.410
36) Joey Gase(i), No. 66 Eternal Fans Toyota, 33.864, 159.461
37) Reed Sorenson, No. 77 Chevrolet, 0.000, 0.000
38) Ross Chastain(i), No. 15 Rim Riderz Chevrolet, 0.000, 0.000 
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2019, Issue 2, Posted 11:40 PM, 03.01.2019