NSCS: Kurt Busch Takes Atlanta Pole After Kyle Busch Fails Inspection

Kyle Busch was set to lead the field to green after winning the pole on Friday for Sunday’s Folds of Honor 500 QuikTrip 500.

However Busch’s time was disallowed after his car failed post qualifying inspection for a rear toe violation which relegates the younger Busch to the rear of the field for Sunday’s 500 mile race. Older brother Kurt Busch will lead the field to green after a lap of 28.938 seconds at 191.582 MPH.

NASCAR said the degree to which the vertical angle of Kyle Busch’s rear wheels were skewed — called the toe — was illegal, but there would be no further penalties other than disallowing his qualifying time.

Busch’s crew chief Adam Stevens said, “The parts move, everything moves, so you expect it to be a little bit different”, before going to add, “This is the first opportunity we’ve had to gather post [qualifying] information, was right now, and it’s game time and it was too much. … Just the amount of load on the track moves everything a little bit, and that little bit was a little bit too much.”

NASCAR’s Scott Miller said in a statement that NASCAR has begun measuring the rear toe of the car after a request by the drivers.

“Teams asked for it, we instituted it, and they didn’t pass,” Miller said. “The others [that went through tech] passed.”

The maximum rear toe allowed in post-qualifying inspection is 0.15 degrees more than in pre-qualifying inspection.

Joining Busch on the front row will be the No.1 Chevrolet of Jamie McMurray followed by Trevor Bayne, Ryan Newman, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Austin Dillon, Martin Truex Jr., and Brian Scott round out the top ten on the starting grid.

Some other notable starting spots include: Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin starting 12th, Matt Kenseth 13th, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 16th, Brad Keselowski 17th, Jimmie Johnson 19th, and Joey Logano 26th.