Darlington NASCAR: Kevin Harvick claims pole with last-gasp lap
Kevin Harvick claimed pole position for Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race with a last-gasp lap at Darlington Raceway
The Stewart-Haas driver lapped the 1.366-mile oval in 26.802s (183.47 mph) after demoting provisional polesitter Marcos Ambrose late in the session.
The in-form Richard Petty driver then fell to fourth when Joey Logano and Aric Almirola rose up the order in the dying seconds.
The Texas race winner finished just 0.063s behind Harvick and remains the only driver to reach the final round of every qualifying session this year.
Almirola found consolation in missing out on the top spot by smashing the track record during the second round of the session with a fast lap of 26.705s (184.145mph).
Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson narrowly missed out on making it through to the second segment and start 25th and 26th respectively.
The six-time champion put his poor showing down to a miscommunication over the radio.
"There was some confusion when I radioed in," said Johnson. "I wanted to do a third run, but it just didn't happen and that was that."
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 26.802s 2. Joey Logano Penske Ford 26.865s +0.063s 3. Aric Almirola Petty Ford 26.880s +0.078s 4. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford 26.948s +0.146s 5. Brad Keselowski Penske Ford 27.011s +0.209s 6. Jamie McMurray Ganassi Chevrolet 27.017s +0.215s 7. Ryan Newman Childress Chevrolet 27.022s +0.220s 8. Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Toyota 27.055s +0.253s 9. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet 27.056s +0.254s 10. Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Toyota 27.087s +0.285s 11. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet 27.097s +0.295s 12. Martin Truex Jr Furniture Row Ford 27.139s +0.337s 13. Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Chevrolet Q2 14. Brian Vickers Waltrip Toyota Q2 15. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet Q2 16. Clint Bowyer Waltrip Toyota Q2 17. Kyle Larson Ganassi Chevrolet Q2 18. AJ Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Chevrolet Q2 19. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford Q2 20. Austin Dillon Childress Chevrolet Q2 21. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford Q2 22. Kasey Kahne Hendrick Chevrolet Q2 23. Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Chevrolet Q2 24. Justin Allgaier HScott Chevrolet Q2 25. Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Toyota Q1 26. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet Q1 27. David Gilliland Front Row Ford Q1 28. Ricky Stenhouse Jr Roush Fenway Ford Q1 29. Josh Wise Parsons Chevrolet Q1 30. Michael Annett Baldwin Chevrolet Q1 31. Casey Mears Germain Chevrolet Q1 32. David Ragan Front Row Ford Q1 33. Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet Q1 34. Alex Bowman BK Toyota Q1 35. Landon Cassill Hillman Chevrolet Q1 36. Dave Blaney Humphrey Ford Q1 37. David Stremme Circle Sport Chevrolet Q1 38. Parker Kligerman Swan Toyota Q1 39. Ryan Truex BK Toyota Q1 40. Reed Sorenson Baldwin Chevrolet Q1 41. Travis Kvapil Go FAS Ford Q1 42. Cole Whitt Swan Toyota Q1 43. Joe Nemechek NEMCO Toyota Q1
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