Chris Buescher Cops NASCAR Cup Pole At Monster Mile

Chris Buescher scored the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover Motor Speedway on Saturday afternoon. Photo: Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Chris Buescher earned his first career NASCAR Cup Series pole position at Dover Motor Speedway Saturday and will lead the field to green in Sunday’s DuraMAX Drydene 400.

The driver of the No. 17 Ford Mustang turned a fast lap of 159.207 mph around the concrete Monster Mile – the second of the 10 final qualifiers to go in the final session. The 29-year old Texan’s time was .057-second faster than Denny Hamlin.

This is Buescher’s first pole position in 233 NASCAR Cup Series race starts.

“That’s just awesome right there,’’ a smiling Buescher said after watching the final session on pit road.

“That was a good effort during practice. (Teammate) Brad (Keselowski) went out there and put down some really great laps and came over and saw some things, relayed it and everyone did a good job working on this thing and got our Fastenal Mustang on the front row so that’s a heckuva start.

“Good to do that here in Dover. I love this place. It’s a ride. We’re flying around here.’’

Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott will start from the second row, followed by Ryan Blaney and defending race winner Alex Bowman.

Ross Chastain – fastest in the opening round of time trails – will start seventh alongside Daniel Suarez. Bubba Wallace and Kyle Busch will round out the top 10 starters,

Austin Cindric was fastest in practice but did not advance to the final qualifying round. He was the fastest rookie qualifier and will start from 12th position.

Kevin Harvick, one of three three-time Dover race winners, was 11th fastest in qualifying, just missing the final round. It will be his highest starting position in the last three races. Harvick is looking to score his first win since Sept. 19, 2020 at Bristol, 53 races ago. He won at Dover that same year.

NASCAR Cup Series
Dover Motor Speedway – Dover, DE
DuraMAX Drydene 400 – April 30, 2022

Saturday’s Qualifying Results

Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
1. 17 Chris Buescher Fastenal Ford 22.479 160.149
2. 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Office Toyota 22.536 159.744
3. 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 22.552 159.631
4. 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 22.609 159.229
5. 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Jack Links Ford 22.617 159.172
6. 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 22.626 159.109
7. 1 Ross Chastain Pitbull Tour 2022 Chevrolet 22.643 158.990
8. 99 Daniel Suarez CommScope Chevrolet 22.708 158.534
9. 23 Bubba Wallace leidos Toyota 22.810 157.826
10. 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Crunchy Cookie Toyota 22.859 157.487
11. 4 Kevin Harvick Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford 22.547 159.666
12. 2 Austin Cindric # Freightliner Ford 22.592 159.348
13. 15 Ryan Preece(i) United Rentals Ford 22.620 159.151
14. 31 Justin Haley LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 22.631 159.074
15. 47 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Kroger/The Frozen Farmer Chevrolet 22.640 159.011
16. 45 Kurt Busch Monster Energy Toyota 22.645 158.975
17. 20 Christopher Bell DeWalt Toyota 22.647 158.961
18. 19 Martin Truex, Jr. Bass Pro Shops Toyota 22.682 158.716
19. 16 A.J. Allmendinger(i) Action Industries Chevrolet 22.684 158.702
20. 6 Brad Keselowski Kohler Generators Ford 22.695 158.625
21. 7 Corey LaJoie DuraMAX/Drydene Chevrolet 22.705 158.555
22. 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 22.734 158.353
23. 14 Chase Briscoe Mahindra Tractors Ford 22.741 158.304
24. 3 Austin Dillon BREZTRI Chevrolet 22.773 158.082
25. 43 Erik Jones FOCUSfactor Chevrolet 22.791 157.957
26. 8 Tyler Reddick Guaranteed Rate Chevrolet 22.833 157.667
27. 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield/Weis Ford 22.858 157.494
28. 51 Cody Ware Nurtec ODT Ford 22.895 157.240
29. 34 Michael McDowell Navage Nasal Care Ford 22.905 157.171
30. 41 Cole Custer Autodesk/HaasTooling.com Ford 23.018 156.399
31. 42 Ty Dillon Chevyliners.com Chevrolet 23.190 155.239
32. 78 B.J. McLeod Superior Logistics Services Ford 23.803 151.241
33. 24 William Byron RaptorTough.com Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
34. 38 Todd Gilliland # The Pete Store Ford 0.000 0.000
35. 21 Harrison Burton # DEX Imaging Ford 0.000 0.000
36. 77 Josh Bilicki(i) Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet 0.000 0.000