Ryan Blaney wins pole for Go Bowling 400 at Kansas
Ryan Blaney won his first career pole on Friday for the Go Bowling 400 at Kansas Speedway, the track where he made his Monster Energy Cup Series debut. With a fast lap of 189.600 miles per hour, Blaney made it an all-Ford front row with Joey Logano next to him with a time of 189.540 mph.
“I didn’t think I got through that lap that great. I came out with a pretty decent time and it was enough for it,” Blaney told FOX Sports after winning the pole. “I think we’ve been second three times this year, so that was getting old. It’s so cool to sit on the pole. That’s something I’ve really wanted to do. Qualifying probably isn’t my best suit but we got better and better and that’s all we can ask for.”
Ford makes up five of the first eight spots with Toyota filling the other three. Kyle Larson is the highest qualifying Chevrolet, but that's likely because three of the four Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets failed to post qualifying times because of flunked inspections.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, and Kasey Kahne headlined the list of 11 drivers who didn't pass tech and failed to post qualifying times. David Ragan, Landon Cassill, Corey LaJoie, Clint Bowyer, Erik Jones, Timmy Hill, Reed Sorenson, and Carl Long were the other drivers who didn't post times.
“Competitors are pushing the limit and they’re not making it and it’s disappointing to a lot of the competitors, I’m sure that they weren’t able to qualify,” said NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller. “But it’s disappointing to us that they aren’t presenting their cars in a way that they’re getting their cars through inspection. Kind of the worst of both worlds, actually.”
Michael McDowell blew an engine in practice and skipped qualifying to prepare his backup car for Saturday night's race.
Coverage for the Go Bowling 400 starts at 7:00 p.m. ET on FS1 with NASCAR RaceDay and the green flag flies at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Check out the full qualifying order in the gallery below.
