Kyle Larson wins second-career road course pole at Sonoma
Kyle Larson will lead a bevy of Chevys to the green flag Sunday at Sonoma.
Larson got his second-ever road course pole on during Saturday’s qualifying session and is one of four Chevy drivers who will start in the top five. Martin Truex Jr., who starts second, is the only non-Chevy driver in the top five.
Chevy has struggled so far in 2018 with its new Camaro car design. Its only win has come when Austin Dillon led the final lap — his only lap led — to win the season-opening Daytona 500.
Larson hasn’t finished in the top 10 in any of his previous four Sonoma starts. A win on Sunday would not only qualify him for the playoffs but make him the 10th different winner in the last 10 races at Sonoma.
The first round of qualifying was bizarre as a car blew an engine late during a K&N West Series session before qualifying. NASCAR put drying material down on the track for the fluid that had been dispersed but the track was very clearly not clean and NASCAR went green with qualifying anyway. That meant many drivers were afraid to try a qualifying lap in the first 15 minutes of the 25-minute first round.
Clint Bowyer, who posted the fastest speed in one of the two practice sessions Friday, was not happy.
Sit around here all day to get a lap of qualifying in. Track was clearly not ready and forces 40 cars to try and make a lap in the last 5 mins. Not 1 but 2 cars pull out in front of ya. Real nice!
— Clint Bowyer (@ClintBowyer) June 23, 2018
Here’s the full starting lineup.
1. Kyle Larson
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Chase Elliott
4. Jamie McMurray
5. AJ Allmendinger
6. Kevin Harvick
7. Jimmie Johnson
8. William Byron
9. Kyle Busch
10. Brad Keselowski
11. Ryan Blaney
12. Joey Logano
13. Trevor Bayne
14. Ryan Newman
15. Paul Menard
16. Daniel Suarez
17. Alex Bowman
18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
19. Clint Bowyer
20. Erik Jones
21. Denny Hamlin
22. Michael McDowell
23. Kurt Busch
24. Aric Almirola
25. Chris Buescher
26. Kasey Kahne
27. Austin Dillon
28. David Ragan
29. Gray Gauldin
30. Matt DiBenedetto
31. Ty Dillon
32. Cole Whitt
33. Justin Marks
34. Parker Kligerman
35. Bubba Wallace
36. Chris Cook
37. Tomy Drissi
38. Cody Ware
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
Follow @NickBromberg on Twitter
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