Kyle Busch claims third consecutive pole for Watkins Glen race

RELATED: Full lineup | Busch, Kes lead practices | Who's on the playoff bubble Kyle Busch, fresh off a win last week at Pocono plus a victory in Saturday's XFINITY Series Zippo 200 at The Glen, claimed the pole for this afternoon's I Love New York 355 at The Glen (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Busch came out fast in the second and final round of Coors Light Pole qualifying Sunday, charging to the top of the leaderboard at 126.925 mph and never surrendering first place as he captured his third consecutive Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series pole. "It was a really good lap for us and being able to have a fast race car and hit all the marks right to put us that quick out in front of the field feels good," Busch said after earning his sixth pole of 2017. "The guys have done an amazing job and continue to do so and hopefully we can keep ourselves in the right position to try and win another one today." Kyle Larson (No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, 126.249 mph) and Martin Truex Jr. (No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota, 125.763 mph), who have battled for the series lead much of the season, will start second and third, respectively. Chase Elliott -- who topped the first round of qualifying at 125.991 mph in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet -- will start fourth (125.584 mph), followed by Daniel Suarez in the No 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (125.453 mph). Road course specialist AJ Allmendinger barely made the cut for for the final round of qualifying, with a fastest lap of 124.942 mph in the first round, and will start seventh after a top speed of 125.368 mph in the second round. Joey Logano, who also needs a win to get into the playoffs after his one victory this season was encumbered, missed the cut and will start 13th after a first-round qualifying run at 124.897 mph. Neither Denny Hamlin nor Clint Bowyer made an attempt in the second round of qualifying. They are slated to start 11th and 12th, respectively. Road course ace Boris Said, who is making his final start in the Monster Energy Series, qualified 35th in a backup No. 33 Circle Sport/TMG Chevrolet after a ride through the grass in practice damaged the primary car. [gallery_content baseUrl="https://www.nascar.com" galleryID="1364" photocount="4"]