Race Weekend Central

Kevin Harvick Secures 1st Pole of 2018 at Talladega

Kevin Harvick bested teammate Kurt Busch in Saturday’s qualifying session at Talladega Superspeedway to score his first pole of the 2018 season. The driver of the No. 4 Chevrolet topped both rounds and will lead the field to green in Sunday’s GEICO 500.

“It is a huge credit to the team and Roush Yates engines and everybody who works on all the superspeedway stuff to make it what it is,” Harvick said of his pole run. “We have made some huge improvements and obviously to have the final Busch Beer program on board and the Busch guy here and everybody from Busch there to see the Busch pole award presented to their car is a lot of fun. It is an exciting weekend for us and always a lot of fun to have things being achieved when the sponsors are activating and doing things. It is great. Hopefully, we can wind up in the same spot on Sunday.”

Martin Truex Jr. will start third followed by Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott. Erik Jones will line up sixth, ahead of defending race winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who qualified seventh. Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski round out the top 10 starters.

Round 1 was slowed after Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Aric Almirola suffered some sort of failure that sent debris spewing all over the track.

Harvick ran through some of the debris as he has already started his first lap, however, NASCAR allowed the No. 4 team to replace the tires and correct any damage that may have been done.

The GEICO 500 begins at 2 p.m. ET on FOX.

MENCS GEICO 500 STARTING LINEUP

About the author

His favorite tracks on the circuit include Barber Motorsports Park, Iowa Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville, and Bristol Motor Speedway.

During the season, Christian also spends time as a photographer with multiple other outlets shooting Monster Energy AMA Supercross, Minor League & Major League Baseball, and NCAA Football.

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