Kyle Larson tops Chris Buescher again—this time for NASCAR Cup pole at Kansas
Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Kansas City, Kansas—If Chris Buescher weren’t tired of Kyle Larson after last year’s record-close finish at Kansas Speedway, he certainly should be after Saturday’s qualifying session at the 1.5-mile track.
Running what he called “a perfect-feeling lap,” Larson, the last driver to make a run during time trials, knocked Buescher off the provisional pole for Sunday’s Advent Health 400 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Larson scorched the intermediate speedway with a lap at 183.730 mph (29.391 seconds), beating Buescher (183.374 mph) for the top starting spot by 0.057 seconds—a much wider margin, relatively speaking, than the heartbreaking 0.001-second advantage Larson held over the Roush Fenway Keselowski driver at the end of last year’s spring race at Kansas.
The Busch Light Pole Award was Larson’s first of the season, his first at Kansas and the 22nd of his career. The pole is the 14th at Kansas for Chevrolet and the seventh this season for the auto maker.
“The qualifying lap felt really good,” Larson said. “You’re watching SMT (data), and you can see that drivers are starting to hold it easy wide open in (Turns) 1 and 2. In (Turns) 3 and 4, some guys were getting tight.
“Buescher was able to run a good 3 and 4. I kind of had a plan on the line I wanted to run and just try to match it with the throttle, and fortunately, everything went great. My balance felt really good, I felt like I hit my marks and came up to speed through 3 and 4 good, so it was a perfect-feeling lap.”
In last spring’s race, Larson surged forward at the finish to edge Buescher by less than four inches. That Buescher was again the victim of the speed in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was not lost on the pole winner.
“It’s definitely ironic and really cool,” Larson said. “I think it adds to the story line of what happened last year and probably builds anticipation for the race (on Sunday). I won’t be thinking about it, I guess, when we’re rolling around under caution, but, yeah, it’s ironic and funny and cool all at the same time.”
Christopher Bell (183.268 mph) was third fastest in time trials, falling two positions short of his fourth straight Kansas Speedway pole.
Tyler Reddick qualified fourth at 183.150 mph, followed by last Sunday’s Texas winner Joey Logano at 182.871 mph.
Ty Gibbs, William Byron, Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney will start sixth through 10th, respectively.
Kyle Busch and Josh Berry both hit the outside wall during their qualifying laps and will start 35th and 38th in Sunday’s race.
NASCAR Cup Series
Starting Line Up by Row
Kansas Speedway
AdventHealth 400
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 5/10/2025 @ 06:31 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Chase Elliott 10/21/18 02:38:02 152.057
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 29.391 183.730
2 17 Chris Buescher Kroger/Kleenex Ford 29.448 183.374
Row 2: 3 20 Christopher Bell Reser's Fine Foods Toyota 29.465 183.268
4 45 Tyler Reddick Xfinity Mobile Toyota 29.484 183.150
Row 3: 5 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 29.529 182.871
6 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 29.551 182.735
Row 4: 7 24 William Byron Raptor Chevrolet 29.569 182.624
8 99 Daniel Suarez Choice Privileges Chevrolet 29.593 182.476
Row 5: 9 9 Chase Elliott Amazon Prime Video Chevrolet 29.595 182.463
10 12 Ryan Blaney Wurth Ford 29.596 182.457
Row 6: 11 71 Michael McDowell Gainbridge Chevrolet 29.613 182.352
12 7 Justin Haley NationsGuard Chevrolet 29.625 182.278
Row 7: 13 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Atlas Ford 29.627 182.266
14 11 Denny Hamlin Progressive Toyota 29.633 182.229
Row 8: 15 23 Bubba Wallace Columbia Toyota 29.634 182.223
16 43 Erik Jones AdventHealth Toyota 29.670 182.002
Row 9: 17 42 John Hunter Nemechek Dollar Tree Toyota 29.674 181.977
18 38 Zane Smith Horizon Hobby Ford 29.682 181.928
Row 10: 19 19 Chase Briscoe Bass Pro Shops Toyota 29.684 181.916
20 3 Austin Dillon BetMGM Chevrolet 29.705 181.788
Row 11: 21 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 29.716 181.720
22 77 Carson Hocevar Delaware Life Chevrolet 29.793 181.251
Row 12: 23 34 Todd Gilliland Love's Travel Stops Ford 29.825 181.056
24 4 Noah Gragson Rush Truck Centers Ford 29.840 180.965
Row 13: 25 35 Riley Herbst # Tree Top Toyota 29.846 180.929
26 1 Ross Chastain Busch Light Chevrolet 29.847 180.923
Row 14: 27 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Fun Pops Chevrolet 29.851 180.898
28 67 Corey Heim(i) Robinhood Toyota 29.899 180.608
Row 15: 29 10 Ty Dillon Sea Best Chevrolet 29.974 180.156
30 60 Ryan Preece Body Guard Ford 30.016 179.904
Row 16: 31 41 Cole Custer HaasTooling.com Ford 30.016 179.904
32 33 Jesse Love(i) C4 Energy Chevrolet 30.070 179.581
Row 17: 33 16 AJ Allmendinger Action Industries Chevrolet 30.160 179.045
34 88 Shane Van Gisbergen # Safety Culture Chevrolet 30.213 178.731
Row 18: 35 8 Kyle Busch Rebel Bourbon Chevrolet 30.384 177.725
36 6 Brad Keselowski Kroger/Allegra Ford 30.602 176.459
Row 19: 37 51 Cody Ware Parts Plus Ford 31.152 173.344
38 21 Josh Berry Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford 31.406 171.942
Did Not Qualify: None.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 16 0 Ford 12 0
Toyota 10 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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