NASCAR Charlotte 2017 qualifying results: Kevin Harvick leads the way; Kyle Larson to start at the back

Kevin Harvick (193.424 mph) easily bested Kyle Busch (192.513 mph) in qualifying Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, earning the top position for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, NASCAR’s longest race.

Busch had set the fastest speed in the first of three rounds in knockout qualifying, but Harvick was tops in the subsequent two rounds to take his third pole of the season, all of which have come on mile-and-a-half tracks. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver also won poles at Atlanta Motor Speedway (finished ninth) and Texas Motor Speedway (fourth).

A year ago, Martin Truex Jr. started on the Coca-Cola 600 pole, then proceeded to lead a NASCAR-record 392 of 400 laps to win.

“The cars in qualifying were a lot looser than they were in practice,” said Harvick, who’s winless on the season. “I just about lost it the first run.”

Chase Elliott and Matt Kenseth qualified third and fourth, respectively, with rookie Erik Jones starting a career-best fifth. Completing the top 10 were Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Clint Bowyer, and Brad Keselowski.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start 19th in his final Memorial Day weekend start at Charlotte. NASCAR’s most popular driver is retiring at the end of the season, and has said Sunday’s race is the one he most wants to win before stepping away.

Two drivers, Kyle Larson and Corey LaJoie, never made it onto the track to record a time after their cars encountered issues in technical inspection. Larson, the Monster Energy Cup Series points leader, had pancaked the wall earlier in practice, which he said put Chip Ganassi Racing behind to get its car cleared.

Ganassi was finally able to get through inspection, but not with enough time for Larson to get strapped into the No. 42 Chevrolet before the 20-minute first round expired. Teams struggling to pass inspection has been a recurring theme throughout the season, with several instances where drivers had to miss qualifying completely.

Larson will line up 39th on Sunday, with LaJoie 40th.

“The machine wouldn’t work there and it cost us a minute or minute-and-a-half, and we actually passed,” Larson said. “But we didn’t have enough time to get out there. Had the machine worked, maybe we would have made it out there for that round.

“I won’t speak too much on it because I don’t know much about how that whole tech process works. I know all the teams hate it. The teams point at NASCAR. NASCAR points at the teams. It’s confusing to me.”