Suarez awarded pole after Harvick, Busch’s times disallowed

LONG POND, Pa.—Daniel Suarez will start from the pole in a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race for the first time in his career after the two drivers who out-qualified him had their times disallowed.

Suarez was analyzing data from Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch, the original front row starters for the Gander Outdoors 400, with his team in the Pocono Raceway garage area Saturday when he was made aware he was the true pole award winner for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race.

Harvick’s No. 4 failed the body scan and Busch’s No. 18 failed chassis inspection, per a NASCAR official.

“I was trying to figure it out for next time, with my notes,” Suarez said. He then received a phone call from his media representative of the news.

Suarez originally posted the third-fastest lap time in the final round of qualifying Saturday. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver is the 227th different pole winner in the history of NASCAR’s premier series.

His previous highest qualifying effort was a third-place start at Dover last season.

“I think this is one of the few races a year that we did not make a qualifying run in practice,” Suarez said. “We just focused on race trim and that was the plan.”

The Gander Outdoors 400 will be televised Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.