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Homestead qualifying: How Championship 4 fared
By Zack Albert | Published: November 16, 2018 5
Jerry Markland | Getty Images
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Jerry Markland | Getty Images
Among Ford Championship Weekend's first orders of business was setting the field for Sunday's Ford EcoBoost 400 (3 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM), the season-ending race for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The four drivers vying for the series title had mixed fortunes in Busch Pole Qualifying. Here's how those four fared Friday evening (in order of starting position) at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
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KYLE BUSCH
Team: Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota
Qualifying position: 2nd (173.622 mph)
Noteworthy: Busch jumped up to the front row in the final minute of the third round of qualifying. His lap was just .043 seconds behind pole winner Denny Hamlin, but secured the best starting spot of his career at Homestead.
Quotable: "Not too bad, wish we had a little bit more there obviously to get the No. 1 pit box. Two years in a row, Denny has been able to figure that last run out."
Team: Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota
Qualifying position: 2nd (173.622 mph)
Noteworthy: Busch jumped up to the front row in the final minute of the third round of qualifying. His lap was just .043 seconds behind pole winner Denny Hamlin, but secured the best starting spot of his career at Homestead.
Quotable: "Not too bad, wish we had a little bit more there obviously to get the No. 1 pit box. Two years in a row, Denny has been able to figure that last run out."
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MARTIN TRUEX JR.
Team: Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota
Qualifying position: 3rd (173.539 mph)
Noteworthy: Three might be the magic number for Truex, who is set to start P3 for the seventh time this year. He started second at Homestead last season when he marched to the title.
Quotable: "It was a good day. Great effort by the guys. Nice, smooth solid day, which is what we needed. We go win this thing from there and we'll get to work tomorrow."
Team: Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota
Qualifying position: 3rd (173.539 mph)
Noteworthy: Three might be the magic number for Truex, who is set to start P3 for the seventh time this year. He started second at Homestead last season when he marched to the title.
Quotable: "It was a good day. Great effort by the guys. Nice, smooth solid day, which is what we needed. We go win this thing from there and we'll get to work tomorrow."
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JOEY LOGANO
Team: Team Penske No. 22 Ford
Qualifying position: 5th (173.366 mph)
Noteworthy: Logano has some qualifying momentum, starting in the top 10 for the last five races. He was the Homestead pole winner in 2012 for his last race with Joe Gibbs Racing.
Quotable: "I will have to go back and look at it and look at some notes and see if I can learn a little bit for next year. At this point it is behind us and we will think about tomorrow and getting the car good for the race."
Team: Team Penske No. 22 Ford
Qualifying position: 5th (173.366 mph)
Noteworthy: Logano has some qualifying momentum, starting in the top 10 for the last five races. He was the Homestead pole winner in 2012 for his last race with Joe Gibbs Racing.
Quotable: "I will have to go back and look at it and look at some notes and see if I can learn a little bit for next year. At this point it is behind us and we will think about tomorrow and getting the car good for the race."
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KEVIN HARVICK
Team: Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Ford
Qualifying position: 12th (171.942 mph)
Noteworthy: Harvick was slowest among the drivers qualifying for the final round, but he extended his streak of top-12 starts to seven straight races.
Quotable: "We didn't qualify that good here last year either, so we definitely need to figure out what we've got to do in qualifying trim, but hopefully our race stuff is good."
Team: Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Ford
Qualifying position: 12th (171.942 mph)
Noteworthy: Harvick was slowest among the drivers qualifying for the final round, but he extended his streak of top-12 starts to seven straight races.
Quotable: "We didn't qualify that good here last year either, so we definitely need to figure out what we've got to do in qualifying trim, but hopefully our race stuff is good."