Kyle Busch, who has been on a tear winning four races and three in a row most recently, has continued that roll at Pocono Raceway. The driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Crispy Toyota scored the pole for the 42nd annual Windows 10 400 with a speed of 178.416 mph and a time 50.444 seconds.
This was Busch’s 17th pole in 375 Cup Series races and his second pole in 22 races at the ‘Tricky Triangle.’
“It certainly is nice to feel this way,” Busch said. “I certainly have been through some down times as well but this year the tides are 180 degrees different. We’re just trying to ride that wave as long as it will carry us. I hope it carries us on through the rest of the season.”
“I wasn’t sure we had a shot for the pole,” Busch continued. “We had good speed but we couldn’t get the balance quite right. But we did and to get a pole here today is cool.”
“I enjoy getting poles, wins, anything but if I look back at old school NASCAR, you have to win a pole to get into the Sprint Unlimited. One is all you need.”
Kevin Harvick, behind the wheel of the No. 4 Jimmy Johns/Budweiser Chevrolet qualified second, posting his 13th top-10 start of 2015 and his ninth in 30 races at Pocono.
“From our goals to what we did in qualifying, I feel like we definitely overachieved today,” Harvick said. “We needed that last round to go the way it did, running our fastest lap of the day.”
“I knew we did a good job,” Harvick continued. “That’s what we needed to do.”
“I feel like we’ll be even better when we get into the Chase. Today was important. As a team, we’re doing a great job. We just have to keep plugging along, with your head down and keeping your eyes plugged.”
Joe Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford, qualified third, posting his sixth top-10 start at Pocono.
“I feel good anytime we come to Pocono. This is one of our best race tracks here as a team,” Logano said. “Good qualifying run. We haven’t gotten the poles that we want. We want to take pictures and get stickers and banners and all that stuff, but I’m proud of what our team has done here lately, picking up from practice to qualifying to the race.”
“I’m proud of the improvements we make on our race car. The communication is there and the teamwork is there. Just are coming up a little bit short here lately.”
Austin Dillon and Tony Stewart both had good runs to round out the top-five qualifiers.
Jeff Gordon rebounded from his tough finish at the Brickyard, making it to the final round of qualifying to start in the tenth position.
“You have three unique corners that you have to drive different and set up different,” Gordon said of the track. “When I think of Pocono, that’s what I think of. I know they call it the ‘Tricky Triangle,’ but it’s true. It is a very challenging and tricky place to compete at.”
The rest of the starting lineup is as follows:
2015 NSCS Windows 10 400 Starting Lineup
| Pos | Car | Driver | Team | Time | Speed |
| 1 | 18 | Kyle Busch | M&M’s Crispy Toyota | 50.444 | 178.416 |
| 2 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Jimmy John’s/Budweiser Chevrolet | 50.514 | 178.168 |
| 3 | 22 | Joey Logano | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 50.608 | 177.837 |
| 4 | 3 | Austin Dillon | American Ethanol Chevrolet | 50.659 | 177.658 |
| 5 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Chevrolet | 50.667 | 177.63 |
| 6 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Haas Automation Chevrolet | 50.672 | 177.613 |
| 7 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Dollar General Toyota | 50.691 | 177.546 |
| 8 | 19 | Carl Edwards | Stanley Toyota | 50.75 | 177.34 |
| 9 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Alliance Truck Parts Ford | 50.764 | 177.291 |
| 10 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | AARP Member Advantages Chevrolet | 50.787 | 177.211 |
| 11 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | FedEx Office Toyota | 50.833 | 177.05 |
| 12 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Kobalt Tools Chevrolet | 50.948 | 176.651 |
| 13 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet | 51.007 | 176.446 |
| 14 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Caterpillar Chevrolet | 51.03 | 176.367 |
| 15 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Microsoft Chevrolet | 51.038 | 176.339 |
| 16 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Aquafina Chevrolet | 51.06 | 176.263 |
| 17 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Lexar Chevrolet | 51.061 | 176.26 |
| 18 | 27 | Paul Menard | Sylvania/Menards Chevrolet | 51.153 | 175.943 |
| 19 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | Maxwell House Toyota | 51.202 | 175.774 |
| 20 | 10 | Danica Patrick | GoDaddy Chevrolet | 51.262 | 175.569 |
| 21 | 43 | Aric Almirola | United States Air Force Ford | 51.39 | 175.131 |
| 22 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | Bush’s Grillin Beans Chevrolet | 51.409 | 175.067 |
| 23 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | AdvoCare Ford | 51.504 | 174.744 |
| 24 | 55 | David Ragan | Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota | 51.524 | 174.676 |
| 25 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Roush Performance Ford | 51.51 | 174.723 |
| 26 | 13 | Casey Mears | GEICO Chevrolet | 51.614 | 174.371 |
| 27 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Suave Men Chevrolet | 51.621 | 174.348 |
| 28 | 7 | Alex Bowman | FW1 Wash and Wax Chevrolet | 51.723 | 174.004 |
| 29 | 40 | Landon Cassill(i) | Chevrolet | 51.771 | 173.842 |
| 30 | 9 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Medallion Bank Ford | 51.803 | 173.735 |
| 31 | 51 | Justin Allgaier | FraternalOrderofEagles/SwitchHitch Chev | 51.895 | 173.427 |
| 32 | 34 | Brett Moffitt # | A&W All American Food Ford | 51.924 | 173.33 |
| 33 | 35 | Cole Whitt | MDS Transportation Ford | 51.949 | 173.247 |
| 34 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford EcoBoost Ford | 51.971 | 173.174 |
| 35 | 23 | JJ Yeley(i) | Dr. Pepper Toyota | 52.125 | 172.662 |
| 36 | 83 | Matt DiBenedetto # | Burger King Toyota | 52.137 | 172.622 |
| 37 | 38 | David Gilliland | Love’s Travel Stops Ford | Owner Points | |
| 38 | 26 | Jeb Burton # | Maxim Toyota | Owner Points | |
| 39 | 46 | Michael Annett | Pilot Flying J Chevrolet | Owner Points | |
| 40 | 32 | Travis Kvapil(i) | Skuttle Tight Ford | Owner Points | |
| 41 | 98 | Reed Sorenson | Chevrolet | Owner Points | |
| 42 | 33 | Alex Kennedy # | MediaCAST Chevrolet | Owner Points | |
| 43 | 62 | Timmy Hill(i) | Ford | Owner Points |
(i) Ineligible for Driver Points in this Series
# Denotes Rookie
Source: Timing and Scoring provided by NASCARMedia/NASCAR Statistics
