Kyle Busch wins the pole for the Good Sam 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. He wins the pole with a speed of 138.287 mph. This would be Busch’s first pole of the 2016 season after the pole at Atlanta Motor Speedway was taken away. With the pole being taken away at Atlanta, Kyle was more hesitant about celebrating in post-qualifying interviews, waiting for the car to go through the “room of doom”.

 

Joe Gibbs Racing continues to show dominance in qualifying. All four Joe Gibbs Racing teams made the final round of qualifying. Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin will start in the next two positions.

 

In his media availability, Carl Edwards mentioned, “The race is so different from qualifying. After about eight laps long in final practice, we will know who is fast.”

 

Kyle Busch had an itch of confidence coming into qualifying today. “I wasn’t going out there strutting my stuff like I was going to sit on the pole. I was trying to get a good lap in, get a good effort in, and get a good pit selection. It all transpired into being a really good day though.”

 

Qualifying went south for Hendrick Motorsports as two of their teams will be switching to backup cars after qualifying. Kasey Kahne posted a blazing lap in the first round of qualifying, but as he was heading back to pit road, the engine was engulfed in smoke. Kahne told Motor Racing Network’s Kim Coon, “Something happened after I shut it off. Something inside the engine. We will have to change engines,” moments after the accident occurred. Jimmie Johnson hit the wall in turn one during the final round of qualifying. He will also go to a backup car. He is not sure what happened going into the first turn. “Not so sure. Definitely a hard hit. We have a very fast racecar, I know my team will bring me a fast race car, at least we have tomorrow to work on it.” 

 

Many notable drivers did not make the final round of qualifying. In the first round, Bowyer (35), Dale Jr. (26), Casey Mears (25), and Danica Patrick (36) failed to make the top 24 to enter the second round. In the second round, Chase Elliott (17), Kevin Harvick (18), and Brad Keselowski (19) failed to make it into the final round

 

A strong performance was shown from Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sebates in qualifying. Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray made it into the final round of qualifying. Both drivers will be starting inside the top 12 on Sunday.

 

On-track activities resume for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for the first of two practices on Fox Sports 1 at 10:30 am.

STARTING LINEUP

1. Kyle Busch

3. Denny Hamlin

4. Kurt Busch

5. Jimmie Johnson

6. Matt Kenseth

7. Kyle Larson

8. Martin Truex Jr.

9. Joey Logano

10. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

11. Jamie McMurray

12. Ryan Blaney

13. Greg Biffle

14. Aric Almirola

15. Austin Dillon

16. Paul Menard

17. Chase Elliott

18. Kevin Harvick

19. Brad Keselowski

20. Ryan Newman

21. Trevor Bayne

22. AJ Allmendinger

23. Matt DiBenedetto

24. Kasey Kahne

25. Casey Mears

26. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

27. Landon Cassill

28. Ty Dillon

29. David Ragan

30. Brian Scott

31. Regan Smith

32. Chris Buescher

33. Michael McDowell

34. Cole Whitt

35. Clint Bowyer

36. Danica Patrick

37. Josh Wise

38. Michael Annett

39. Joey Gase

Caleb Whisler
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