NASCAR: Martin Truex Jr. on Las Vegas pole; Kyle Busch penalized

Martin Truex Jr. is now on pole after Kyle Busch was penalized and stripped of the pole he was awarded via the NASCAR rulebook.

When rain washed out Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for tomorrow afternoon’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube, the NASCAR rulebook set the starting lineup.

With that rulebook stating that the field would be set based on 2019 owner points, it was 2019 champion Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing on the pole in his #18 Toyota.

That won’t be the case.

Busch, along with teammate Denny Hamlin and pseudo teammate Christopher Bell of the Joe Gibbs Racing-affiliated Leavine Family Racing, have been assessed L1 penalties.

They have all been docked 10 driver and owner points and set to the rear of the field for Sunday’s 267-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval in Las Vegas, Nevada.

NEWS: The No. 11, 18, and 95 teams have been issued L1 penalties at @LVMotorSpeedway.

Each team will lose 10 driver and owner points and will start at the rear of the field. pic.twitter.com/8SFyz9Osew
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 22, 2020

Rick Ware Racing’s Garrett Smithley will also have to drop to the rear of the field prior to the race, as his #51 Chevrolet failed pre-qualifying inspection three times. He had been slated to start in 34th place.

Now it will be Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. on the pole position in his #19 Toyota, alongside Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick in his #4 Ford, although Harvick is technically the driver slated to advance to Busch’s number one starting spot by virtue of being the one slated to line up behind him. Truex was initially slated to start in second place with Harvick in third.

More from NASCAR Cup Series

Team Penske’s Joey Logano and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson are set to share the second row in third and fourth place behind the wheel of the #22 Ford and #42 Chevrolet, respectively. Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski are set to share the third row in fifth and sixth behind the wheel of the #12 Ford and #2 Ford, respectively.

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Clint Bowyer and Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott, William Byron and Alex Bowman are set to round out the top 10 in seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th place behind the wheel of the #14 Ford, #9 Chevrolet, #24 Chevrolet and #88 Chevrolet, respectively.

Starting lineup
1st – Martin Truex Jr.
2nd – Kevin Harvick
3rd – Joey Logano
4th – Kyle Larson
5th – Ryan Blaney
6th – Brad Keselowski
7th – Clint Bowyer
8th – Chase Elliott
9th – William Byron
10th – Alex Bowman
11th – Kurt Busch
12th – Aric Almirola
13th – Ross Chastain
14th – Erik Jones
15th – Cole Custer
16th – Jimmie Johnson
17th – Matt DiBenedetto
18th – Ryan Preece
19th – Austin Dillon
20th – Ty Dillon
21st – Chris Buescher
22nd – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
23rd – Tyler Reddick
24th – Michael McDowell
25th – Darrell Wallace Jr.
26th – Corey LaJoie
27th – John Hunter Nemechek
28th – Quin Houff
29th – Joey Gase
30th – Reed Sorenson
31st – Brennan Poole
33nd – Daniel Suarez
33rd – J.J. Yeley
34th – Timmy Hill
35th – Kyle Busch
36th – Denny Hamlin
37th – Christopher Bell
38th – Garrett Smithley

Next. Top 10 NASCAR drivers of all-time. dark

The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season’s second race is set to be broadcast live on Fox beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET tomorrow.

Home/NASCAR Cup Series