Saturday's motors: Larson's Indianapolis 500 qualifying attempt could derail NASCAR All-Star plans
Dover, Del. — Kyle Larson ran into his first speed bump in his busy May.
Larson next month will become the fifth driver in history to attempt to complete “ The Double“ and run 1,100 miles in one day, starting with the Indianapolis 500 in an Indy car and then flying to Charlotte to drive in the Coca-Cola 600, NASCAR’s longest race of the year.
But ahead of the milestone attempt, Larson will stay in Indianapolis on May 17 to practice for the 500 rather than travel to North Wilkesboro Speedway to practice and qualify for the NASCAR All-Star race.
He is expected to qualify for the Indy 500 on May 18 before – barring any complications – he travels to North Carolina to compete in an All-Star heat race later that night. The All-Star race at North Wilkesboro is May 21, hours after the top 12 cars on the starting grid is set in Indianapolis.
“Hopefully, I'll be able to run a heat race,” Larson said. “I hope to make it back in time for the race itself. Kind of don't really know yet. Kind of depends on how the week is going in Indy. For sure, won't be able to practice, I know that.”
Larson’s next time on the track at Indy won’t be until May 14, when IMS opens for Indy 500 preparations. Larson is running an entry co-fielded by McLaren and Hendrick Motorsports, his NASCAR team and Rick Hendrick’s first entry into the Indianapolis 500.
“I need to get as much laps in Indy as possible,” Larson said. “The plane will be ready for me to go whenever it's free for me to leave.”
Cup qualifying
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.
Busch won the pole in last season's race at Dover and led 25 laps before he finished 21st. He has three career Cup wins at Dover. He 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 starts 27th in the No. 84 Toyota.
Xfinity
Make it three straight NASCAR wins for the Truex kids at the Monster Mile.
Ryan Truex won the Xfinity Series race Saturday at Dover Motor Speedway for the second straight year, giving the younger brother of Martin Truex Jr. the only NASCAR victories of his career.
Truex went back-to-back at the Monster Mile to give him two wins in 194 career starts over the three national series. The No. 20 Toyota pulled away over the final two laps in a race that went eight laps over its scheduled 200-lap finish. The race was slowed by rain, but it sure didn't matter to Truex, who does not have a fulltime Xfinity ride and made just his fourth start this season.
The Truex family had a special weekend last year at Dover. Ryan Truex dominated on the concrete-mile track and swept all three stages of the Xfinity race, leading 124 of the 200 laps. Two days later, Martin Truex Jr. won the Cup Series race at Dover – with their dad on hand to celebrate with both sons.
“Really in this sport, what you did last year doesn’t mean a thing,” Martin Truex Jr. said earlier Saturday. “He felt pretty good about his car yesterday. He didn’t get the lap he wanted in qualifying.”
Hours later, Ryan Truex got the laps he wanted down the stretch.
“I can't believe it,” he said. “Our car was just good at the end when it mattered. I was so loose all day.”
Joe Gibbs Racing won its 200th career Xfinity race with Toyota.
The 32-year-old Truex huffed and puffed during a postrace interview saying: “I think I held my breath the last two laps.”
With his NASCAR champion father rooting him on, Carson Kvapil finished second. The 21-year-old Kvapil was trying to win his first career NASCAR race in just his second start in the developmental series. His dad, Travis, won NASCAR’s Truck Series championship in 2003.
“I know he can do it,” the elder Kvapil said on TV ahead of the final laps.
His kid almost delivered.
“I thought we had a pretty good restart,” he said. “It sucked, right, to get that close? I really don't even know what to say. I think we had a really fast Chevrolet here. I'm just really fortunate to be in the spot that I am. I'm happy that I had a shot to win the race at the end there.”
Sam Mayer, Sheldon Creed and Cole Custer rounded out the top five.
Anthony Alfredo finished ninth and took a $100,000 bonus from the series’ Dash-4-Cash program.
“We've been punching above our weight this year,” Alfredo said. “The money is kind of overwhelming us.”