DOVER, Del. — Kyle Busch turned a fast lap of 162.191 mph on Saturday and won the pole for the NASCAR Cup series race at Dover Motor Speedway.
Busch earned his first pole win of the season and No. 34 overall in 689 NASCAR Cup Series races. Busch is winless in the No. 8 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing in 10 Cup races this season.
“I would certainly love for [the pole] to be a huge one to get our season rolling and back in the right direction,” Busch said. “I feel like the last couple of weeks, the discussions at RCR have kind of been, let’s get some sort of reset going here.”
Busch is joined by Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney on the front row for Sunday’s 400-mile race on the concrete-mile track.
Busch was one of four Chevrolets in the top 10, Blaney led the three Fords, and three Toyotas were also inside the first five rows.
After winning the pole in last season’s race at Dover, Busch led 25 laps before he finished 21st. He has three career Cup wins at Dover and is looking to extend his streak of 20 straight seasons with at least one win in the series.
“The next box to check that’s highest on the list is to get a win this year to just continue that streak,” Busch said. “From there, you’re never settled or never happy with just one. You want to have more.”
Busch has 63 career Cup victories.
No driver has won from the pole at Dover since Jimmie Johnson in 2010. A seven-time NASCAR champion, Johnson has the track record with 11 career wins. He will start 27th in the No. 84 Toyota.