Updated: 7/13 – 2:15 p.m. ET
Daniel Suarez won the pole for Saturday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway.
Suarez went out last in qualifying and posted a lap of 29.254 seconds, 184.590 mph to best his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Aric Almirola for the top spot. It marks Suarez’s second career pole.
“My car has been very fast the entire day,” Suarez said. “I feel that we had probably the fastest car in the last practice and the fastest car in qualifying again. I am very proud of my guys and Ford Performance and Stewart-Haas Racing and everyone that makes this program go. We have been working very hard.”
Almirola recorded his sixth front-row qualifying effort of the season with a lap of 29.380 seconds, 183.799 mph.
“I feel like this weekend so far we are off to a good start and the cars are fast and driving good,” Almirola said. “We have part one done, we have qualified up front and got ourselves good track position and pit stall selection and good clean air. Now we just have to go put a race together.”
Brad Keselowski, who topped final practice, was third with Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick rounding out the top five.
Two-time defending race winner Martin Truex Jr. qualified eighth.
“Yeah, just made some really good changes I think after practice,” Truex Jr. said. “We started off earlier today and we were pretty far off, off the trailer. That’s really typical for us, but at the mile-and-a-halfs this year it’s kind of been that way. It’s either been hit or miss. I’m optimistic that it’s going to be pretty good tomorrow night. Hopefully it is.”
