ATL: Kyle Busch Qualifying Time Disallowed - Brother Kurt On Pole


Kyle Busch had the pole at Atlanta Motor Speedway - until he failed post-qualifying inspection. He will start at the rear and brother Kurt will start from the front row.

Kyle Busch covered the 1.54-mile distance in 28.925 seconds (191.668 mph) during knockout qualifying for Sunday's Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN), beating his older brother Kurt by .013 seconds.

But the reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion's No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota failed post-qualifying inspection, and his time was disallowed. That gave Kurt Busch his first Coors Light Pole Award at Atlanta in the first event contested this year with the lower-downforce competition package that will be in place at all open-motor race tracks.

"It was a good, consistent car and I hope that translates into race speed as well," Kurt Busch said. "But thanks to (crew chief) Tony Gibson and everybody at Stewart-Haas.

"It's a matter of preparing the best car during the offseason to come to these 1.5-mile tracks and seeing what you've got. It's just great to feel this right away with the speed and the energy from the car."

The disqualification to Kyle Busch -- because his car failed the rear toe measurement on NASCAR’s laser platform -- put Jamie McMurray's No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet (190.130 mph) on the outside of the front row for the start of Sunday's race.

Trevor Bayne (189.987 mph) qualified third, beating by 15 positions his previous best starting spot at an open-motor race track (18th last year at Darlington).

Ryab Newman was fourth fastest, followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Carl Edwards. Denny Hamlin, last Sunday's Daytona 500 winner, will start 12th.

Kyle Busch must take the green flag from the rear of the field.

Tags NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Mobile Coors Light Chase Elliott Danica Patrick Dale Earnhardt Dale Earnhardt Jr. Matt Kenseth Joey Logano Jimmie Johnson Folds Of Honor QuikTrip 500 Daytona 500 Atlanta Motor Speedway Kyle Larson Trevor Bayne Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Carl Edwards Denny Hamlin Jamie McMurray Ryan Newman Kyle Busch Kurt Busch

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