Kyle Busch to start on pole at Dover
DOVER, Del. — After a frustrating end to what could’ve been a big race at Talladega Superspeedway, Kyle Busch grabbed the pole at Dover Motor Speedway.
Last week at Talladega, Busch led the outside lane and had a big run with a few laps to go. However, that big run stalled out when Ty Gibbs jumped in line and trying going with them.
Instead of vying for the win, Busch outside of the top-25 and sits below the playoff cutline going into the Wurth 400 Sunday in Dover.
Going into Sunday, though Busch has his first pole of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season and 34th of his Cup Series career Saturday. He clocked in a time of 22.196 seconds, averaging 162.191 MPH, 0.033 seconds and about 0.2 MPH faster than Ryan Blaney.
Four Chevy drivers, four Fords and two Toyotas comprise the top-10:
Busch, Blaney, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Noah Gragson (career-best), Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, Michael McDowell, Alex Bowman, AJ Allmendinger.
McDowell now has six top-10 starts in 11 races. Doing one better, Briscoe has seven top-10 starts this season.
Kaulig Racing showed speed, putting Allmendinger in the top-10 and Daniel Hemric in 14th. It’s Allmendinger’s best starting spot since starting sixth at the Charlotte Roval last year. For Hemric, it’s his best on a non-drafting track since starting fifth at Auto Club Speedway in 2022.
Just ahead of Hemric, Austin Cindric starts 11th after just missing the final round.
Josh Berry, Ricky Stenhouse and Carson Hocevar will each start in the top 20.
Christopher Bell will start in the rear after wrecking in qualifying. Kaz Grala and Zane Smith will each start back there after wrecking in practice.
FULL LINEUP AND MORE ON DOVER:
Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com