Larson Nips Buescher At Kansas, Again, This Time For Pole

Kyle Larson poses with the 'mini-car' given to Kansas Speedway pole winners. (Wyatt Tinsley/Race Face Digital photo)

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Qualifying for the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway Saturday evening ended just like the race itself did one year ago, with Kyle Larson eking out top honors over Chris Buescher.

Larson sped to his 22nd career Busch Light Pole Award with a lap of 29.391 seconds (183.730 mph) in the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, after being the last driver to take time around the 1.5-mile oval.

It was Larson’s first NASCAR Cup Series pole of the season and, surprisingly, his first ever pole at Kansas in the premier division.

“The qualifying lap felt really good,” he noted. “I was watching SMT and could see some drivers were starting to hold it easy wide open in (turns) one and two. In three and four, some guys were getting tight and (Chris) Buescher was able to run a good three and four. I kind of had a plan on the line that I wanted to run and just try to match it with the throttle.

“Thankfully, everything went great,” Larson added. “My balance felt really good. I felt like I hit my marks and came up to speed through three and four good. It was a perfect feeling lap.”

As he was a year ago at the checkered flag, Buescher will be to Larson’s flank for the green flag Sunday, with his lap of 29.448 seconds (183.374 mph) in the No. 17 Kroger/Kleenex Ford good enough for the opposite side of the front row.

Shaking his head as Larson’s number went to the top of the scoreboard, Buescher voiced matter-of-factly what most onlookers began thinking in the moments following qualifying.

“We couldn’t have manufactured a better story if we’d tried,” said the Prosper, Texas, native.

“But that was a really awesome lap for this Mustang; I’m proud of this group,” Buescher continued. “Practice was really solid, and Texas last week was awesome, so we came in here with a lot of high hopes. Missed by that much … but we’re still in a good spot to have clean air starting the race at a track we’ve been really good at in the past.

“We fired off well and built a little bit free as we went, but seemed to be pretty similar to where our teammates ended practice. That being said, I think we’ve got a good plan to handle that and keep some security in it for the long haul.”

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell and 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick share row two in a pair of Toyotas, starting third and fourth, respectively. Joey Logano qualified fifth in a Team Penske-prepared Ford.

Ty Gibbs, William Byron, Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott, and Ryan Blaney closed out the top 10 starters.

Notables lining up deeper in the pack include Denny Hamlin (14th), Alex Bowman (21st), Ross Chastain (26th), Corey Heim (28th), Ryan Preece (30th), Jesse Love (32nd), and Kyle Busch (35th).

With just 38 drivers entered, no one failed to qualify for the 12th race of the Cup Series season.

Broadcast coverage of Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas is slated for 3 p.m. ET, live on FS1, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.