Martin Truex Jr. wins pole at Kentucky

Martin Truex Jr. greets fans before the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Saturday, July 7, 2018, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)
Martin Truex Jr. greets fans before the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Saturday, July 7, 2018, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

Martin Truex Jr. is starting first at Kentucky and the other two drivers that have dominated the Cup Series in 2018 are also starting in the top five.

Truex scored his fourth pole of the season and his third in the last six races during Friday’s qualifying session. Kevin Harvick starts third and Kyle Busch starts fifth; together they have won 10 of the 18 Cup Series races so far this season. Truex is third on the list with three wins.

Erik Jones won last week’s race at Daytona and will start alongside Truex on the front row. Brad Keselowski, the highest winless driver in the points standings, will start fourth. Yeah, the top of the grid is a pretty good reflection of the 2018 season so far.

Another good reflection is the lack of Chevrolet speed in qualifying. The best-qualifying Chevrolet car is Ryan Newman in 10th and no Hendrick Motorsports car made the top 12. Kyle Larson, the fastest Chevy throughout the first part of the season, will start 18th. No Chevy driver has won since Austin Dillon won the season-opening Daytona 500.

Here’s what the full grid looks like. The bottom four drivers did not make it through inspection in time to make a qualifying run.

1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Erik Jones
3. Kevin Harvick
4. Brad Keselowski
5. Kyle Busch
6. Paul Menard
7. Ryan Blaney
8. Clint Bowyer
9. Kurt Busch
10. Ryan Newman
11. Daniel Suarez
12. Aric Almirola
13. Austin Dillon
14. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
15. Alex Bowman
16. Chase Elliott
17. Matt Kenseth
18. Kyle Larson
19. Joey Logano
20. Chris Buescher
21. William Byron
22. Jamie McMurray
23. Michael McDowell
24. David Ragan
25. Darrell Wallace Jr.
26. AJ Allmendinger
27. Jimmie Johnson
28. Ty Dillon
29. Kasey Kahne
30. Ross Chastain
31. Corey LaJoie
32. JJ Yeley
33. Landon Cassill
34. BJ McLeod
35. Garrett Smithley
36. Denny Hamlin
37. Matt DiBenedetto
38. Jesse Little
39. Timmy Hill

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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

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