Track:  Kansas Speedway, 1.5-mile tri-oval, Kansas City, Kansas
Pole Winner: Kurt Busch

Pole Time:  30.901 seconds

Pole Speed:  174.752 mph
TV/Radio: SPEED/MRN/SIRIUSXM

No. 34 Taco Bell Ford Qualifying Position: 38th

No. 38 Long John Silver's Ford Qualifying Position: 30th

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at one of the circuit's "youngest" racetracks this week -- the 10-year-old tri-oval of Kansas Speedway.  After running strong cars the last few weekends at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway and Dover (Del.) International Speedway, the teams of Front Row Motorsports came to Kansas ready for their next mile-and-a-halfer.

The teams had two practice sessions on a hot and windy Friday afternoon, where both David Gilliland and Travis Kvapil found good speed in qualifying trim and broke into the top 15 on the practice charts.  They both finished the day in the top 20.  Saturday was another hot, humid and breezy day, with qualifying getting under way in the late morning.  Speeds picked up from the day before, and so seemed the slippery conditions, with many drivers reporting loose qualifying runs.

Kvapil and the No. 38 Long John Silver's team were required to make the race on speed, and they successfully did so with the second-fastest qualifying time of all the speed qualifiers.  Kvapil will start 30th.  Gilliland the No. 34 Taco Bell team fought a rough-handling car all Friday and Saturday, qualifying 38th.  The crew plans to make numerous changes to the car before Sunday's green flag and is confident they'll put an improved racecar on the starting grid.

Kurt Busch earned his first pole in nearly a year with a lap time of 30.901 seconds at 174.752 miles per hour.  He bumped Juan Montoya, who will start on the outside pole.  T.J. Bell and Tony Raines failed to qualify for the race.
 

The STP 400 airs Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on FOX.

David Gilliland

Comments from Taco Bell Ford team driver David Gilliland after qualifying at Kansas:  

"It is definitely getting hotter out there as we go, but we are all in the same boat there. We have been kind of struggling all weekend and we are going to make some changes for tomorrow, throw everything at it and see where we end up. I am not happy with the race car right now, but we will make some changes."

Travis Kvapil

Comments from Long John Silver's Ford team driver Travis Kvapil after qualifying at Kansas: 

"I was a little free on my qualifying run, but I got down to the white line pretty good, so it was a decent lap.  I'm pretty happy with what we've been able to do with our Long John Silver's Ford this weekend.  My team has put together some pretty strong cars for these last few mile-and-a-half races and I'm excited about the direction we're going. I think we can have a good run on Sunday."

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