CONCORD, N.C. - Clint Bowyer claimed the pole for Saturday night’s 35th-annual Monster Energy NASCAR All Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, beating out Kyle Busch with a near-perfect lap to score his first-career pole in the all-star event.
Bowyer clocked in at 118.794 seconds during his run, which consisted of three laps and a four-tire pit stop in the unique qualifying setup. Bowyer’s crew pulled off the pit stop in 14.8 seconds, giving him just enough of edge to top Kyle Busch for the pole.
“Hell has frozen over,” Bowyer said. “It’s so easy to make mistakes in that (format), because it’s so out of the ordinary of what we usually do. I actually didn’t get on pit road near as good as I wanted to.
“I had my dead-set line that I was going to get to and would lift (off the gas) at, and when I didn’t get on pit road like I needed to, I drove past that and I was like, ‘Oh no, I’m going to get stuck.’ and my eyes were getting bigger.”
Kyle Busch was the third driver to take to the track in the qualifying session, and pulled off lap of 118.971 with the help of a 14.6-second stop by his crew to climb over Joey Logano for the pole.
Busch’s time atop the scoreboard didn’t last long, as Bowyer was on the clock as the eighth qualifier and took the top spot away. Busch and Bowyer ended up as the only two drivers to qualify under the 118-second mark.
“I thought everything about the lap actually was pretty good,” said Busch. “I’m not sure how fast the lap itself was – how fast our car was on the lap.
“I felt like my progressiveness onto pit road and pit road speed was relatively good, and then the braking point and being able to just chatter the tires all the way into the box was really close. Really on the money there. I thought we got all we could get out of it.”
Kevin Harvick was third fastest at 119.058 seconds. Austin Dillon (119.314)and Martin Truex, Jr. (120.334) made up the rest of the top five.
Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch were both hit with five-second penalties for loose lug nuts following their qualifying runs. Both wound up 14th and 15th, respectively.
The final four spots in the 19-car all-star field will be made up of the three stage winners from the Monster Open, and the winner of the Fan Vote will take the 19th position.
Earlier in the afternoon, Daniel Hemric scored the pole for the Monster Open, with Michael McDowell second fastest.
WDUN will have live MRN Radio coverage of Saturday night’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series All Star Race and the Monster Open from Charlotte Motor Speedway beginning at 5:30 pm on 102.9 FM, AM 550 and streaming live on AccessWDUN.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Charlotte Motor Speedway – Concord, NC
Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race – May 17, 2019
Friday’s Qualifying Results
1. (14) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 136.371 mph.
2. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 136.168 mph.
3. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 136.068 mph.
4. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 135.776 mph.
5. (19) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 134.625 mph.
6. (6) Ryan Newman, Ford, 134.570 mph.
7. (20) Erik Jones, Toyota, 134.546 mph.
8. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 134.262 mph.
9. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 134.004 mph.
10. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 133.241 mph.
11. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 132.811 mph.
12. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 132.651 mph.
13. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford, 130.841 mph.
14. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 130.583 mph.
15. (1) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 126.389 mph.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Charlotte Motor Speedway – Concord, NC
Monster Energy Open – May 17, 2019
Friday’s Qualifying Results
1. (8) Daniel Hemric #, Chevrolet, 182.168 mph.
2. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford, 181.226 mph.
3. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet, 181.093 mph.
4. (41) Daniel Suarez, Ford, 181.044 mph.
5. (21) Paul Menard, Ford, 180.662 mph.
6. (88) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 180.493 mph.
7. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 180.493 mph.
8. (37) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 179.211 mph.
9. (38) David Ragan, Ford, 179.724 mph.
10. (43) Darrell Wallace, Jr., Chevrolet, 179.563 mph.
11. (47) Ryan Preece #, Chevrolet, 179.372 mph.
12. (95) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 179.366 mph.
13. (36) Matt Tifft #, Ford, 179.188 mph.
14. (13) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 179.093 mph.
15. (17) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Ford, 179.033 mph.
16. (32) Corey LaJoie, Ford, 178.118 mph.
17. (00) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 177.003 mph.
18. (15) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 175.965 mph.
19. (53) B.J. McLeod(i), Chevrolet, 175.319 mph.
20. (52) Bayley Currey(i), Ford, 173.650 mph.
21. (51) Cody Ware(i), Chevrolet, 170.288 mph.
22. (66) Timmy Hill(i), Toyota, 168.650 mph.
23. (77) Quin Houff, Chevrolet, 167.100 mph.
24. (46) Joey Gase(i), Toyota, 0.000 mph.
