Ryan Blaney picked up his third career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series pole at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Friday evening (March 2) for Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube. This pole is his first in 2018 for Team Penske, and it came with a lap of 191.489 mph.
Atlanta winner Kevin Harvick made the front row a Ford sweep with a 190.248 mph lap. He was followed by teammate Kurt Busch, coming in third at his hometown track. Martin Truex Jr. was the fastest Toyota, qualifying fourth, and the top five was rounded out by Chevrolet’s Kyle Larson.
Chase Elliott will start sixth, followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Brad Keselowski. Erik Jones and Joey Logano will comprise row five while Clint Bowyer and Paul Menard rounded out the top 12.
In Round No. 2, Harvick was fastest with a lap of 191.090 mph. Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin all failed to advance to the final round. They’ll start 13th, 14th and 19th, respectively.
In Round No. 1, Menard was fastest with a lap of 190.181 mph. Failing to advance from Round No. 1 were Ryan Newman and Darrell Wallace Jr., who are starting 25th and 26th. Cole Custer will make his Cup Series debut starting from the 30th position.
Only 37 cars are entered, so everyone will start the race on Sunday.
STARTING LINEUP FOR THE MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES PENNZOIL 400 PRESENTED BY JIFFY LUBE
Coverage of the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube begins at 3 p.m. ET this Sunday (March 4) on FOX. The green flag is scheduled to fall around 3:45 p.m. ET.
8 Fords, 2 Chevs and 2 Little Toys in the top 12. Brian got another phone call from Mr. G and Mr. H and said “I’m working on it.”
LOL LOL LOL LOL, I hope not a repeat of NASCAR, a disgusting display of favoritism. The same morons are in charge, so I am not hopeful a repeat will not happen! After all MARTY TRUEX started winning when his live in house maid discovered she had cancer, imo. And after 12 to 13 years of basically sucking he wins in 2016 and 8 in 2017???? Come ON!!!!!!!!!!!!! NASCAR took the live in house maid and her health issues as a tactic that so many would tune in because of her very much “promoted” health issues, never a race that was not mentioned. I guess I never knew anybody who had cancer or a loved one died from it as NASCAR and the house maid “were teaching me”. How insulting. SARCASM to the max, and screw his roommate too, thinking she is schooling or preaching something NEW that all of us have experienced!
Then we have KYLE BUSCH, another TOYS drama queen/king that NASCAR cannot help themselves with. Their credibility was ruined in many ways, but when they gave a waiver to this clown after missing 11 races and his points status was P22 I believe and he “wins” The Daytona CUP!!! BRIAN was hungry like the MARTY/ROOMATE/TOYS story for a feel good finish. They gave this clown a waiver and lost a lot of fans with the obvious timed cautions etc. To say see “we have an IRONMAN” in our sport too! The BS with MARTY and KYLE and TOYS, is laughable! It is a business, too bad some cannot see the BS. Sorry Kyle being king of the hill and “winning”. Marty sucking for over a decade, Cole Pearns the past two years making CHAD K. look like a priest, come on.
All In my opinion of course!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry Homestead CUP!!!!! Still find it fascinating that DILLOOON won the race 20 years after the “DALE WIN” !!! HOW comically convenient! MO! Richard Childress and NASCAR are exploiting that win, IMO with a total bone head on purpose move. Made by the under achiever in Cup and the BS that ALEX BOWMAN legitimately won the POLE. I have no proof of course, but the past “pole winners” are questionable at best and down right laughable at worst.
I’m waiting for the NASCAR PR spin that the Cup series is healthier than ever, with 3% more cars entered compared to last week.