Kyle Busch to Start From Pole Position at the NASCAR Cup Race at Kentucky Speedway

Published 07/09/2020, 10:32 AM EDT

On Sunday, Kyle Busch is set to lead the pack from pole position at the Quaker State 400 Cup Series race at Kentucky. The best part is that this is his first pole position during the 2020 season.

Owing to the COVID-19 crisis, NASCAR implemented a lucky draw to determine the qualifying positions for 9 out of 13 races. In order to avoid mix-ups on the grid too much, the random draw was group-based, depending on championship positions.

This time though, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch got the luck of the draw and bagged pole at the Kentucky Speedway. Alongside him on the front row will be Team Penske driver Joey Logano. So, Busch and Logano are set to duke it out during the 267-lap race.

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Hot on their heels are Stewart-Haas Racing’s duo Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola respectively. Rounding out the top 5 is leading Chevrolet driver, Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman.

Starting alongside him is Logano’s teammate, Brad Keselowski in his #2 Ford. Completing the top 10 are, Kurt Busch, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., and Matt DiBenedetto, respectively.

Where do other drivers start, compared to Kyle Busch?

As per the random draw format, 12 drivers were in with a shot at pole, but out of them, only two would draw the short stick. This time around, the unlucky two drivers were Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin.

However, the best part is that Jimmie Johnson is back in action this weekend. The #48 missed the race in Indianapolis as he tested positive for the COVID-19 bug.

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Fortunately, after some recuperation, he is back on track, though he is starting in 20th place, well behind Kyle Busch. So far, Johnson managed to keep the team in the top 12 in the owner standings.

Sadly, his one-race absence proved to be costly since they dropped to 15th place, owing to Justin Allgaier’s 37th place at Indianapolis.

Coming back to Kyle Busch, he currently sits in the top 10 in the championship, with no wins under his belt. However, he is confident that with this pole position, his fortunes will turn around.

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.