Harvick scores pole at NASCAR finale

Kevin Harvick may not be in the running for this year’s Sprint Cup title in NASCAR, but that didn’t stop him from scoring pole at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

In fact, the best-placed of the Championship 4 in the running for the title was defending series champion Kyle Busch in ninth, just one place ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team-mate Carl Edwards. The other title contenders Joey Logano (Penske Ford) and Jimmie Johnson (Hendrick Chevrolet) will start from 13th and 14th respectively.

“I am just so proud of everybody on this Jimmy John’s Chevrolet team,” Harvick said. “They want to come to the race track and bring good race cars and perform well. Just real proud of that.”

Sharing the front row will be Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski, who is tasked with doing what he can to assist Logano.

Interestingly Joe Gibbs other cars qualified inside the top-10 with Denny Hamlin in fourth and Matt Kenseth in seventh.

In terms of the Hendrick cars, Chase Elliott will start fifth, Alex Bowman in 19th and Kasey Kahne in 29th.

The other driver in focus this weekend is Tony Stewart who will make his final fulltime start from 11th on the grid.

QUALIFYING:  Ford EcoBoost 400 – Homestead-Miami Speedway 

POS.	CAR #	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	MPH	TIME/GAP
1	4	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS	177.637	30.399
2	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	Miller Lite	177.538	–0.017
3	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	177.387	–0.043
4	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Express	177.194	–0.076
5	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	NAPA Auto Parts	177.096	–0.093
6	78	Martin Truex Jr	Toyota	Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats	176.974	–0.114
7	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	DeWalt Flexvolt	176.505	–0.195
8	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center	176.413	–0.211
9	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M’s Core	175.959	–0.290
10	19	Carl Edwards	Toyota	Arris	175.615	–0.350
11	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Always a Racer / Mobil 1 Chevrolet	174.978	–0.462
12	47	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	Kroger/Clorox	174.831	–0.488
13	22	Joey Logano	Ford	Shell Pennzoil	176.638	–0.172
14	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe’s	176.269	–0.236
15	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	McDonald’s	176.263	–0.237
16	41	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	Haas Automation / Monster Energy Chevrolet SS	176.246	–0.240
17	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	Dow Corning	176.120	–0.262
18	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Ford	Fastenal Ford Fusion	175.965	–0.289
19	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	Axalta	175.655	–0.343
20	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	Advocare Ford Fusion	175.536	–0.364
21	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	Roush Performance Ford Fusion	175.018	–0.455
22	44	Brian Scott	Ford	Safeway Ford	174.984	–0.461
23	13	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	GEICO	174.972	–0.463
24	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	Target	173.756	–0.679
25	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	Smithfield	175.092	–0.442
26	59	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	Thrivent Financial	174.972	–0.463
27	34	Chris Buescher	Ford	Love’s Travel Stops	174.967	–0.464
28	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	Richmond/Menards	174.893	–0.477
29	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	Great Clips	174.695	–0.512
30	10	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	TaxACT Chevrolet SS	174.667	–0.517
31	49	Matt DiBenedetto	Toyota	NASCAR Heat Evolution	174.306	–0.581
32	38	Landon Cassill	Ford	Florida Lottery	174.025	–0.631
33	15	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	5-Hour Energy	173.952	–0.644
34	95	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	Advil Chevy SS	173.796	–0.672
35	7	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	Nikko RC / Toy State Chevrolet	173.706	–0.688
36	23	David Ragan	Toyota	Dr. Pepper	172.529	–0.900
37	55	Reed Sorenson	Toyota	RoyalTeak.com / Backyard Company	170.578	–1.258
38	83	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Toyota	Starter	168.687	–1.613
39	32	Dylan Lupton	Ford	Can-Am / Corvetteparts.net	166.036	–2.124
40	46	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	Pilot Flying J	165.853	–2.160