By Jerry Jordan, Editor
CONCORD, N.C. — A strong day for Team Chevy as the bowtie brigade will lineup one through six in the 2020 Coca-Cola 600 with Kurt Busch leading the field to the green.
“I’m just so proud of Matt McCall and all our guys and the way we have to communicate right now and get through everything as far as those last-minute details and those fine adjustments,” Busch said, as he exited the car. “But, wow, what a Chevrolet brigade up front. This is pretty sweet! GEARWRENCH is on our car only a few times a year and I really want to push them up front. This is an awesome pole. I was more geared up, in my mind, towards downforce and being ready for 600 miles, so this means Matt McCall has something up his sleeve and we should be good tonight.”
Busch turned a 29.790-second lap at a speed of 181.269 mph. He bested Johnson by nine one-thousandth of a second.
For most of the qualifying runs, Jimmie Johnson sat atop the board with his Chevy compadres taking shot after shot at him. It came down to Busch and rookie Tyler Reddick in the final five cars – Busch got it done knocking Johnson down to second as Reddick put the No. 8 Chevy in P8.
Starting 3rd will be Chase Elliott. Matt Kenseth, who joined Chip Ganassi Racing to team with Busch during when the 42 came open, starts 4th. Austin Dillon takes the green in sixth.
1 Kurt Busch
2 Jimmie Johnson
3 Chase Elliott
4 2Matt Kenseth
5 Tyler Reddick #
6 Austin Dillon
7 Joey Logano
8 Martin Truex Jr.
9 Brad Keselowski
10 William Byron
11 Kyle Busch
12 Alex Bowman
13 Denny Hamlin
14 Erik Jones
15 Christopher Bell #
16 Ty Dillon
17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
18 Ryan Newman
19 Chris Buescher
20 Clint Bowyer
21 Ross Chastain(i)
22 Kevin Harvick
23 Bubba Wallace
24 Corey LaJoie
25 John Hunter Nemechek #
26 Ryan Blaney
27 Michael McDowell
28 Cole Custer #
29 Ryan Preece
30 Quin Houff #
31 Gray Gaulding
32 Timmy Hill(i)
33 Matt DiBenedetto
34 JJ Yeley(i)
35 Brennan Poole #
36 BJ McLeod(i)
37 Daniel Suarez
38 Garrett Smithley(i)
39 Joey Gase(i)
40 Aric Almirola
# DENOTES ROOKIE
(I) NOT ELIGIBLE FOR POINTS
(*) REQUIRED TO QUALIFY ON TIME