Teammates Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick led qualifying for Saturday’s race.
For the second time in three races the Stewart-Haas Racing duo of Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick will start on the front row, as Busch took the pole position in qualifying Friday at Texas Motor Speedway.
Busch and Harvick also qualified first and second for the March 22 race at Auto Club Speedway. Harvick would go on to finish that race second, with Busch third. The pair is seeking an improved result in Saturday night's Duck Commander 500.
"The second pole of the year feels good," said Busch, who is winless on the year. "Now we need to dial it in and get that long-run speed out of the car."
The pole was Busch's 18th of his career, second of the season and first at Texas. Harvick has never started on the front row on the mile-and-a-half track. Qualifying third through fifth were Brad Keselowski, Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson, respectively. Johnson dominated the fall Texas race last season, leading 191 of a possible 341 laps.
"It's nice to have just raw speed in the car," Johnson said. "I feel like that will translate to what we need in the race."
Rounding out the top-10 qualifiers were defending race-winner Joey Logano, followed by Ryan Newman, Paul Menard, Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray.
The past eight Texas races were been won by a driver starting 10th or better.
Dale Earnhardt was fast in both practice sessions earlier Friday, but that speed never manifested in qualifying, as he never made it past the first of three rounds. He will start 25th. Other notable names not advancing out of Round 1 include: AJ Allmendinger (26th), Clint Bowyer (27th) and David Ragan (30th).
Brendan Gaughan and Jeb Burton were the only two who failed to qualify.
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