Updated: 7/28, 10:15 a.m. ET.
Kevin Harvick won the pole for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Gander RV 400 at Pocono Raceway.
Harvick, who won the race last weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, went out 35th among the 38 drivers and posted a fast lap of 51.707 seconds, 174.058 mph to take his fourth pole of the season.
“We scrambled today in practice and never even made a qualifying run in practice, so we worked on our race stuff as long as we could and never really felt like we got it 100 percent right,” Harvick said. “We weren’t bad, but I think as you look at that our car was pretty good after about lap six and I think as you get into the race tomorrow there’s gonna be a lot of two-tire strategy and a lot of green flag strategy.”
Joey Logano (173.377 mph) and Aric Almirola (173.164 mph) were second and third, respectively, to give Ford the first three spots.
Erik Jones and Austin Dillon rounded out the top five, but Dillon’s car failed inspection.
“We have had good speed,” Jones said. “I thought with that lap we would have it. That’s kind of frustrating. We have a fast car and I thought we had a shot at the pole. It’s kind of frustrating, but we are starting upfront either way, so we will make a good day of it.”
Update: Multiple Cars Fail Inspection
Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Kurt Busch and Daniel Suarez rounded out the top 10. Both Johnson and Byron’s cars also failed pre-race inspection.
Kyle Busch has won three of the last four races at Pocono, including the last two.
Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson went to backup cars in this morning’s first practice and turned in the 23rd and 29th fastest lap, respectively.
“It just seemed slower, like the balance is crazy different than the other car,” Larson said.
“As Chip (Ganassi) says, there’s a right strategy to win every race for every car. Maybe we’ll figure out that strategy and we able to have a good day.”
