Kyle Busch continues playoff pole streak at Loudon

Had it not been for a bobble in the second round of qualifying, Kyle Busch might have been perfect Friday night at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Busch laid down the fastest lap in the first round of qualifying and was fifth in the second round after he got out of the groove in Turn 2, fortunately pulling off the save. Busch then rebounded in the final round to put down a lap of 135.049 mph to take the pole for Sunday's ISM Connect 300.

• Starting lineup

The pole is Busch's eighth of the season and second at New Hampshire. Busch is also two-for-two in qualifying on the pole in the playoffs.

"Same as it is every other time – you've got to have a fast car, so certainly feels pretty good to capitalize on another good Friday and we just need to somehow figure out how to turns these things into good Sundays, you know?" Busch said. "Being able to start up front, it'd be nice to stay up front all day and limit our mistakes and not have any of those and be able to carry on and go to Victory Lane on Sunday.

"This is a good place for us and the weather is going to be warmer – more like a July race – and we run better here in July than we typically do in September, so hopefully that will bode a little bit for us in the 18 car this weekend."

Kyle Larson will start second after a qualifying lap of 134.911 mph. The July winner at New Hampshire, Denny Hamlin, will start third following a lap of 134.763 mph. Ryan Blaney (134.720 mph) and Martin Truex Jr. (134.188 mph) rounded out the top five. Truex is the only driver breathing easy this weekend, coming off a win last weekend at Chicagoland that locked him into the Round of 12.

Defending race winner Kevin Harvick will start sixth at 134.108 mph with Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kurt Busch qualifying seventh at 133.985 mph. Rookie Erik Jones was the only non-playoff driver who qualified in the top 10. Jones will start eighth following a lap of 133.971 mph.
Completing the top 10 were Kasey Kahne (133.966 mph) and Matt Kenseth (133.689 mph).

"It was a good effort for our Target team. One lap in the first round, one lap in the second round. I knew we would have a good shot at the pole for the final round," Larson said. "I felt like I ran a pretty good lap my first lap. Maybe I could have found a few tenths more, but overall, I felt like I hit my lap pretty good, but Kyle [Busch] was quite a bit faster than us throughout qualifying, especially that first round.

"But it is a good starting spot for us on Sunday. I got the pole here earlier in the year, but didn't get to start from up there (after NASCAR found an unapproved rear deck fin lid) and had to come from the back and pass a lot of cars, so hopefully, we can just maintain our track position this time around and get another good finish. A win would be great, but just some stage points and a top five or top 10 would be good."

Eleven of the top 12 in qualifying were championship-eligible drivers. The worst qualifying playoff driver was Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in 24th.

NEXT: Second practice at 9 a.m. ET Saturday.