NASCAR Xfinity Series

Kevin Harvick wins pole for Sunday's Monster Energy Cup race at Atlanta

Published Mar. 3, 2017 7:17 p.m. ET

Chase Wilhelm

Kevin Harvick will lead the field to green in Sunday's Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET, FOX).

Harvick earned the pole with a fast lap of 190.398 miles per hour in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Fusion, the only driver to break the 190 mph mark.

"It was good timing on hitting a good lap from the seat," Harvick said. "It says a lot about our team and our organization. We felt pretty good about our race car in race trim. We didn't spend a lot of time in qualifying trim."

Showing speed throughout the session, Newman qualified second with a lap of 189.870 mph. Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top five.

It was a stressful time for a number of teams who were in a race against the clock as Friday evening's qualifying session got underway.

Under NASCAR's new inspection policy, if a car fails any part of the inspection process, they have to go through the entire process again until it's within the rules.

But eventually, all 39 teams made it through inspection in time to make their qualifying runs.

Harvick's car spent extra time in the inspection line, but that wasn't even a concern for him.

"I just drive, I don't worry about the rules," Harvick said. "That's not my department."

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