Kyle Busch beats Ryan Blaney to NASCAR Cup pole at Dover

Busch, whose previous best start his season was third and has yet to earn a win, was the first of the 10 drivers to make a qualifying attempt Saturday in the final round but ended up setting the standard.

His average lap speed of 162.191 mph was good enough to hold off several challengers, including Ryan Blaney (161.951 mph), who was fastest in Saturday’s practice and the last car to qualify.

The pole is the first this season for Busch and his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team and 34th of his career. Busch is currently 17th in the series standings with one top five finish (third at Atlanta).

“The first month was strong, we had some really good races there but the last month or so has definitely been a struggle for speed and Talladega is a crap shoot anyways,” Busch said. “The guys did a great job.

“We wanting to trend the right way. We’re putting in the effort, putting in the hours, putting in all the extra work in trying to figure out what’s gong on and why.”

William Byron ended up third quick (161.486 mph), last week’s race winner Tyler Reddick was fourth and Noah Gragson rounded out the top five.

Completing the top 10 starting lineup are Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, Michael McDowell, Alex Bowman and A.J. Allmendinger.

Round 1 / Group A

Byron led the way in the first group with an average lap speed of 162.864 mph.

Hamlin was second fastest (162.352 mph) while Allmendinger was third (161.798 mph).

Also advancing to the final round of qualifying were Gragson and Busch.

Among those who failed to advance were Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain and Corey Heim, who is making his series debut while substituting for the injured Erik Jones at Legacy Motor Club.

Round 1 / Group B

Blaney, who was fastest in practice Saturday, topped Group B with an average lap speed of 163.125 mph.

Reddick ended up second fastest (162.646 mph) while McDowell was third (162.492 mph).

Also advancing to the final round were Bowman and Briscoe.

Among those who failed to move on were Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr., Austin Cindric and Christopher Bell.

Bell spun during his qualifying attempt but only brushed the wall with his No. 20 Toyota and drove down pit road. His team immediately began repairs after the incident.

Neither Zane Smith nor Kaz Grala participated in qualifying as both were involved in accidents in practice and had to move to back up cars.