RICHMOND, Va. - Where the short tracks are concerned, Kevin Harvick and his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team appeared to have turned a corner.
And on Friday afternoon at Richmond Raceway, Harvick got through the corners better than everyone else in winning the pole position for Saturday’s Toyota Owners 400 at the .75-mile track.
The Busch Pole Award was Harvick’s third at Richmond, his second of the season and the 27th of his career, setting up a showdown with the Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske cars that have monopolized Victory Lane in the first eight Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series events of the season.
Harvick posted a lap at 124.298 mph (21.722 seconds) to edge Erik Jones (124.081 mph) for the top starting spot by .038 seconds. The front-row start will be Jones’ first of the season.
Kurt Busch qualified third at 123.870 mph, a dramatic improvement over his 2019 average starting position of 20.1. Joey Logano and Kyle Busch completed the top five.
“The cars definitely had a little fall-off,” Harvick said. “I was just really just managing the fall-off and just trying to be consistent with the laps, but stickers (new tires) were definitely faster in the first round than they were in the second and third round.”
Harvick was sixth in the first round, second to Kyle Busch in the second round and first with the pole at stake. Martin Truex, Jr., Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez and Jimmie Johnson earned positions six through 10 on the grid, respectively.
For the first time, NASCAR limited each round to five minutes, with seven minutes between, condensing the entire qualifying session to 29 minutes. For Jones, who had a pit stall near the exit from pit road, the time limits weren’t an issue.
“Short tracks, I think it’s fine,” Jones said. “It’s a little hectic in the first round and even in the second round, but it’s easy for me to say. We had a great pit stall being first out. I could just roll out, and here it doesn’t benefit you to wait so you just roll out and get your lap in.”
Harvick was fast last week at Bristol, only to have his prospects crushed by a pre-race penalty for multiple inspection failures and an early loose wheel that forced an unplanned pit stop. But at Richmond on Saturday, he’ll be leading the field to green.
Nevertheless, there are plenty of unknowns, including a new Goodyear tire combination.
“As you look at this place, this is really one of those places where you kind of have to go off of what happened last time,” Harvick said. “New tire, so you don’t really know exactly what the cars are going to do deep into runs as far as how bad they will push, will the get looser.
“What conditions will you be fighting? We wind up guessing a number of times when they change the tires like this, because you don’t know what to anticipate.”
WDUN will carry live MRN Radio coverage of Saturday night's Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 beginning at 6:30 on WDUN 102.9 FM, AM 550 or streaming live on AccessWDUN.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Richmond Raceway – Richmond, VA
Toyota Owners 400 – April 12, 2019
Unofficial Qualifying Results
1. 4 Kevin Harvick Mobil 1 Ford 21.722 124.298
2. 20 Erik Jones DeWalt Toyota 21.760 124.081
3. 1 Kurt Busch Global Poker Chevrolet 21.797 123.870
4. 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 21.832 123.672
5. 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Toyota 21.845 123.598
6. 19 Martin Truex, Jr. Auto Owners Insurance Toyota 21.880 123.400
7. 9 Chase Elliott NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet 21.924 123.153
8. 3 Austin Dillon AAA Chevrolet 21.958 122.962
9. 41 Daniel Suarez Haas Automation Ford 22.021 122.610
10. 48 Jimmie Johnson Ally Chevrolet 22.101 122.166
11. 37 Chris Buescher Scott Comfort Plus Chevrolet 22.106 122.139
12. 2 Brad Keselowski Alliance Truck Parts Ford 22.120 122.061
13. 21 Paul Menard Menards/Maytag Ford 21.848 123.581
14. 42 Kyle Larson McDonald’s Chevrolet 21.855 123.542
15. 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield Get Grilling Ford 21.865 123.485
16. 17 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr Fifth Third Bank Ford 21.871 123.451
17. 88 Alex Bowman Nationwide Chevrolet 21.891 123.338
18. 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Ground Toyota 21.898 123.299
19. 24 William Byron Liberty University Chevrolet 21.899 123.293
20. 36 Matt Tifft # The Pete Store Ford 21.900 123.288
21. 14 Clint Bowyer Haas Automation Ford 21.925 123.147
22. 38 David Ragan MDS Transport Ford 21.934 123.097
23. 47 Ryan Preece # Kroger Chevrolet 21.951 123.001
24. 8 Daniel Hemric # Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet 22.099 122.177
25. 34 Michael McDowell Dockside Logistics Ford 21.802 123.842
26. 43 Bubba Wallace World Wide Technology Chevrolet 21.821 123.734
27. 95 Matt DiBenedetto ToyotaCrtfdUsedVehicles/ToyotaOwners 21.823 123.723
28. 32 Corey LaJoie CorvetteParts.net Ford 21.843 123.609
29. 12 Ryan Blaney MoneyLion Ford 21.849 123.575
30. 13 Ty Dillon GEICO Chevrolet 21.873 123.440
31. 6 Ryan Newman Roush Performance Ford 21.898 123.299
32. 00 Landon Cassill Superior Essex Chevrolet 21.920 123.175
33. 52 Bayley Currey(i) Steakhouse Elite Chevrolet 22.046 122.471
34. 51 Jeb Burton(i) JACOB Companies Ford 22.211 121.561
35. 77 Quin Houff FALCI Adaptive Motorsports Chevrolet 22.384 120.622
36. 66 Joey Gase(i) Eternal Fan/Sam Bass Tribute Toyota 22.652 119.195
37. 15 Ross Chastain(i) Rim Ryderz Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
