Kyle Busch’s car fails inspection, cut from Atlanta pole
Kyle Busch’s car failed a post-qualifying inspection on Friday, leaving him at the back of the pack instead of on the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race.
The ruling leaves brother Kurt Busch as the pole winner at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Kurt Busch ran strong through all three elimination rounds of qualifying and had the top speed at 191.582 mph before he was topped by Kyle’s fast lap of 191.668 mph in his No. 18 Toyota.
Kyle Busch is the defending Sprint Cup series champion.
Scott Miller, NASCAR’S senior vice president of competition, said a laser inspection revealed the rear toe, which affects alignment, on Kyle Busch’s car did not meet specifications. Miller said Busch and his crew chief, Adam Stevens, do not face additional penalties.
Miller said the violation was found in the new laser test.
“This is a way to police that,” Miller said. “Teams asked for it. We instituted it and they didn’t pass.”
Miller said Kyle Busch’s car passed the same inspection before qualifying. Miller said more tolerance in the test is allowed following qualifying.
“We give them some but they took a little more,” Miller said.
Jamie McMurray, who had the top speed in the second round, will start beside Kurt Busch on the front row, followed by Trevor Bayne and Ryan Newman.
Denny Hamlin, fresh off last week’s Daytona 500 win, was eliminated in the second round.
Before the post-qualifying inspection results were announced, Kurt Busch said Kyle “got us just by a little bit.”
“I know I was just a little bit tight out there on the race track,” said Kurt Busch, who said the brothers have a friendly rivalry.
“I’ll wave at him and he’ll wave at me and then we’ll go back to business,” said Kurt Busch. “It’s fun.”
Trevor Bayne and Ryan Newman will start third and fourth, respectively.
Denny Hamlin, fresh off last week’s Daytona 500 win, was eliminated in the second round.
Rookie Chase Elliott, who won the pole in Daytona, was bumped from the top 24 in the final minute of the first round by another rookie, Ryan Blaney.
Harvick won’t leave SHR
Kevin Harvick, who has spent his entire Sprint Cup career driving a Chevrolet, said this week’s announcement that Stewart-Haas Racing is moving to Ford won’t force him to look for a new team.
Harvick and SHR co-owner Tony Stewart each won championships for the team driving Chevrolets. The team’s move to Ford in 2017 set up a potentially awkward final 2016 season with Chevrolet and led to questions about how Harvick would react.
The 2014 Cup champion said during Friday’s practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway he plans to stay with SHR.
“Just got to follow along with what your organization thinks is best,” Harvick told reporters. “I think they have the same interest in mind that I do, and that’s to compete for wins and championships.”
Asked if that means he won’t leave SHR, Harvick said “I just want to win races. That’s what we’re all going to focus on.”
Harvick said the move does not make him a free agent. He was evasive when asked about his contract status after 2016.
“My contract, I haven’t even looked at,” he said. “I haven’t even asked. I just assumed that it was all sealed up and done.”
SHR will get its engines from Roush Yates, instead of Hendrick Motorsports.
Wednesday’s surprise announcement was still big news on Friday during practice and qualifying. Greg Biffle said it was “a very smart move on Ford’s part.”
“Quite honestly, I’m very surprised it took to 2016 for them to make a move to add some competitive teams to the lineup because they want to be known for winning on Sundays,” said Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Roush Performance Ford.
“You’ve got to have enough organizations where your odds get higher. If you own three-quarters of the field, your odds are better each week.”
Stewart has driven for General Motors in all but one of his 18 NASCAR seasons. He is retiring after this season.
Stewart said Wednesday he hopes to continue in his “great relationship” with Hendrick Motorsports in 2016 even as SHR prepares “to try to be as self-sufficient as we can going into 2017.”
“We see this as a lot of growth for Stewart-Haas Racing,” Stewart said. “… It’s a great opportunity for us to kind of get out of the shadows and, to some degree, get off the coattails, to a certain degree, and really get out on our own.”
Even though he has been loyal to Chevrolet throughout his career, Harvick was firm in his commitment to SHR.
“I’ve got a great team,” he said. “I’ve got great people. I’ve got a great organization that’s wanted to win races and to not be committed to them would be foolish on my part to be in the best position I’ve ever been in as a driver.”
Stewart said announcing the plans for Ford so early in the 2016 season could be seen as awkward when he and Harvick are still driving Chevrolets.
“Yeah, we definitely understand that, but at the same time we’re committed to Chevrolet this year and we’re committed to winning races and trying to contend for a championship again this year,” Stewart said. “They realize that. We’re still all-in this year with Chevrolet. … That’s what we do. That’s our commitment as a race team. We still respect our partnership with Chevy at this point.”
Quick kicks
Christopher Bell will be back in the field for the Great Clips 200 Truck series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway just eight days after his truck flipped and barrel-rolled at Daytona. … Ty Dillon will sub for full-time driver Tony Stewart in the No. 14 Chevy for Sunday’s Xfinity series. Dillon will also run in the Heads Up Georgia 250 Xfinity race. … Courtney Force raced to the qualifying lead in Funny Car with a track record performance at CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals. Force led the field with a track record time of 3.930 seconds at 323.97 mph in a Chevrolet Camaro.