Advertisement

Kyle Busch wins second-straight pole at Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS — Kyle Busch’s Indianapolis dominance is continuing.

Busch posted the fastest lap in the third round of qualifying to grab his second-straight pole for the Brickyard 400.

He’s searching for his first win of the season and his third-straight Brickyard 400 win. No driver has won three-straight Cup Series races at Indianapolis.

Busch dominated the 2016 race, leading 149 of the race’s 170 laps including the final 109 circuits around the 2.5-mile track. No one had a chance to catch Busch in the second half of the race. The myriad restarts over those 109 laps were simply a tease for the rest of the field.

A win would lock Busch into the playoffs, though he’s already there. At third in the points standings, Busch is virtually guaranteed to make the playoffs on points unless something horribly goes wrong.

A victory would also be the second-straight win for Joe Gibbs Racing after the team went the first 19 races of the season without a win. Denny Hamlin won at New Hampshire as Toyota cars led 290 laps.

Here’s the starting lineup for Sunday’s race.

1. Kyle Busch
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Jamie McMurray
4. Jimmie Johnson
5. Denny Hamlin
6. Martin Truex Jr.
7. Joey Logano
8. Ryan Newman
9. Erik Jones
10. Ryan Blaney
11. Brad Keselowski
12. Kurt Busch
13. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
14. Matt Kenseth
15. Daniel Suarez
16. Chase Elliott
17. Paul Menard
18. Clint Bowyer
19. Kasey Kahne
20. Austin Dillon
21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
22. Trevor Bayne
23. Danica Patrick
24. Michael McDowell
25. Kyle Larson
26. Chris Buescher
27. Matt DiBenedetto
28. Ty Dillon
29. Aric Almirola
30. David Ragan
31. Landon Cassill
32. Corey LaJoie
33. JJ Yeley
34. Cole Whitt
35. BJ McLeod
36. Reed Sorenson
37. Jeffrey Earnhardt
38. Carl Long
39. Joey Gase
40. AJ Allmendinger

(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

– – – – – – –

Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!