RICHMOND, Va. – Kevin Harvick became the first repeat pole winner in 2019 when he captured the unofficial top spot for Saturday night’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway.
The starting lineup will be made official following pre-race inspection on Saturday.
Harvick’s lap of 124.298 mph earned the top spot for the ninth race of the season. It was the Stewart-Haas Racing driver’s 27th career pole.
“We did a great job today, I didn’t think it was a perfect lap from my standpoint, but I was able to get in the throttle on the exit of the corner and put down a decent lap,” Harvick said.
Erik Jones, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five.
Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez and Jimmie Johnson completed the first 10 qualifiers.
Other notables in Saturday night’s field include Brad Keselowski (12th), Kyle Larson (14th), Denny Hamlin (18th) and Ryan Blaney (29th).
The format was three rounds of five minutes each and unlike recent qualifying sessions there was no controversy with drivers waiting too long to go out on track and miss putting up an official lap time.
Motor Racing Network’s live coverage of Saturday night’s Toyota Owners 400 begins at 6:30 p.m. ET.
