CONCORD, N.C. – Kurt Busch broke Jimmie Johnson’s heart during Busch Pole Qualifying for the 61st annual Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Denying the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion a pole during Johnson’s final season of competition, Busch rocketed to a lap of 29.790 seconds (181.269 mph) in the No. 1 Gearwrench Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, earning the top starting position for NASCAR’s longest race of the year.
Sunday was Busch’s 28th career pole and his first since joining Chip Ganassi Racing in 2019.
“I’m just so proud of Matt McCall and all our guys. The way we have to communicate right now and get through everything, as far as those last-minute details and fine adjustments is different, but wow. What a Chevrolet brigade up front,” noted Busch, who nipped Johnson by .009 seconds on the stopwatch. “That’s pretty sweet and it’s cool to be the one leading them later tonight.
“Gearwrench is on our car only a few times a year, and I wanted to really push them up front, so this is an awesome pole,” Busch added. “I was really geared up, in my mind, toward downforce and being ready for 600 miles, so this means Matt has something up his sleeve and we should be good tonight (in the race) as well.”
Johnson, who led the time sheets for much of the qualifying session after supplanting his teammate William Byron, will roll off from the outside pole for his last Coca-Cola 600. He’s won the race four times.
Chase Elliott, Matt Kesneth, Tyler Reddick and Austin Dillon followed Busch and Johnson, giving Chevrolet a sweep of the first three rows of the starting grid.
Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr. were the fastest Ford and Toyota drivers, respectively, in seventh and eighth. Brad Keselowski and Byron completed the top 10 in qualifying.
Notables starting deeper in the field include Kyle Busch (11th), Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin (13th) and Kevin Harvick (22nd), who won his first race of the year last Sunday at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.
Matt DiBenedetto pancaked the right side of his No. 21 Menards Ford Mustang exiting turn four on his qualifying lap, one of two incidents in the session. DiBenedetto will go to a backup car for the race.
Aric Almirola was the other driver to encounter problems, with a smoky spin coming to the green flag in his No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang. Almirola did not complete a timed lap and will start from the rear.
To view complete qualifying results, advance to the next page.