Matt Kenseth wins Kansas pole as JGR-equipped cars take 5 of top 7 spots
Is Sunday setting up to be a day of Toyota dominance?
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Matt Kenseth beat out teammate Kyle Busch by 0.001 seconds to take the pole at Kansas Speedway for Sunday’s race. And while JGR swept the front row, its Toyota cars took five of the top seven spots when you count Furniture Row’s Martin Truex Jr. in with the four Joe Gibbs Racing cars.
Truex dominated the spring race at Kansas Speedway but lost the lead on a late-race pit stop when the team had an issue on the left front of the car. Truex’s misfortune meant Busch ended up winning the race.
Kenseth is also looking for redemption at Kansas. We probably don’t need to remind you that he went spinning off the bumper of Joey Logano’s car late in the race last fall. Had Kenseth won the race he would have made it to the third round of the Chase. Instead, he finished 14th, failed to advance in the Chase and then got a two-race suspension when he crashed Logano at Martinsville.
So while we’re sure Kenseth is excited for the opportunity to get a win that he thinks he was wrongly denied of last year, we’re much less sure that he’s excited to talk about the Logano incident for the rest of the weekend.
JGR’s Carl Edwards qualified third. Edwards grew up two hours east of Kansas in Columbia, Missouri, and has never won a Cup race at what he considers his home track.
“Just the idea of winning here in front of all the people who have supported me so much – that would be huge,” Edwards said. “But icing on the cake would be no pressure at Talladega”
Talladega, of course, is where the final race of the second round is. Whoever wins at Kansas on Sunday goes to Talladega knowing that he’s advancing to the next round of the Chase and that Talladega means nothing for his Chase chances.
Here’s how the field will line up on Sunday.
1. Matt Kenseth
2. Kyle Bsuch
3. Carl Edwards
4. Martin Truex Jr.
5. Alex Bowman
6. Joey Logano
7. Denny Hamlin
8. Brad Keselowski
9. Ryan Newman
10. AJ Allmendinger
11. Kevin Harvick
12. Austin Dillon
13. Chase Elliott
14. Tony Stewart
15. Kurt Busch
16. Paul Menard
17. Ryan Blaney
18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
19. Danica Patrick
20. Kasey Kahne
21. Jimmie Johnson
22. Greg Biffle
23. Jamie McMurray
24. Kyle Larson
25. Trevor Bayne
26. Regan Smith
27. Matt DiBenedetto
28. David Ragan
29. Casey Mears
30. Chris Buescher
31. Clint Bowyer
32. Brian Scott
33. Michael McDowell
34. Landon Cassill
35. Aric Almirola
36. Cole Whitt
37. Michael Annett
38. Joey Gase
39. Reed Sorenson
40. Josh Wise
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
