Kyle Busch won the pole for the Brickyard 400 for the second consecutive season. Busch became the third driver to score two straight poles at the 2.5-mile speedway – joining Jeff Gordon and Ernie Irvan – when he turned a lap of 187.301 mph in the third and final round of qualifying. Last year, Busch won from the pole and on Sunday he is seeking his third straight win in the prestigious race.
Tune in to FM 95, or our online audio stream, for today’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Brantley Gilbert Big Machine Brickyard 400 . Live coverage begins at 12:30 PM.
With Denny Hamlin’s victory last Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the list of Monster Energy Series winners this season grows to twelve. But you’ll recall that Joey Logano’s victory at Richmond Raceway does not qualify him for the playoffs due to post-event penalties. If there are six new names in Victory Lane over the final seven regular-season races (or five if Logano wins again with no penalties), then there’ll be one driver with a victory to his credit that will not get a spot in the 2017 playoffs – which will include only the top 16 eligible drivers based primarily on race wins. The list of notable drivers still looking for their first Cup Series win of 2017 includes Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Junior, Chase Elliott and Matt Kenseth. Of those four drivers, only Busch is a past winner at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – site of today’s Brickyard 400. He’s a two-time winner on the famed oval, posting back-to-back victories in 2015 and 2016. Earnhardt’s and Elliott’s fathers were each victorious once at Indy – Dale Senior in 1995 and Bill Elliott seven years later.
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– story by John Singler
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