Kyle Larson Steals the Pole at Bristol Away From Kyle Busch

         With a time of 15.415 seconds (124.476 mph), Kyle Larson was able to take the pole away from one of the fastest guys in the series, Kyle Busch. Larson was definitely on his game in the second round, but the first was a struggle. He finished the first round tenth and he was very unhappy with the car. He came out in the second round and his car was yards better, which allowed him to take the pole from Kyle Busch and the other drivers who moved onto the second round of qualifying. Still, Larson won't be too far ahead of Kyle Busch. Busch qualified second and he was very fast in both qualifying rounds. He will definitely be a threat in just a few minutes when the race starts. The rookies were also well represented at the front. Ryan Blaney starts fifth and Ty Dillon will start ninth as Chase Elliott rolls off fifteenth with Dylan Kwasniewski four spots in front of Elliott, but he had a problem in qualifying that could force him to move to a back-up car. That incident was the first indication of a great qualifying session. The others were great racing, great battles, and hard fought laps laid down on track. It was definitely one of the best group qualifying sessions we have seen this year and it will definitely decide a winner today.

        Kyle Larson was one of the first drivers to head on track to begin the first round of qualifying at Bristol. He ran a decent lap that put him at the top of the board early on in the first round. About two minutes later, Matt Kenseth was able to go out and blister Larson's lap to take the top spot on the board.  Behind Kenseth, the battle was beginning to rage for twelfth. Still, a lot of time was left and the spot would definitely start to change. Nine minutes into the session, Kyle Busch went out and jumped to the top of the board with a single lap. He came in and he was ready to move onto the next session. Around this time, the battle for twelfth began to pick up. Chris Buescher, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Elliott Sadler, Trevor Bayne, and others were battling to move onto the second round. Soon, only ten minutes remained. Kyle Larson was on the outside looking in, but with a few minutes left he jumped to the tenth position and into the top twelve. This put Chris Buescher just on the outside with about five minutes left to go. Teams on the outside began to thrash to make it into the top twelve, but they all fell short of Brian Scott's twelfth place time in the final minutes. The red and black flag waved and the field was set for the second and final round of qualifying. Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Dylan Kwasniewski, Mike Bliss, Kevin Harvick, James Buescher, Ryan Blaney, Regan Smith, Ty Dillon, Kyle Larson, Cale Conley, and Brian Scott moved on while Chris Buescher, Trevor Bayne, Chase Elliott, Elliott Sadler, and others barely missed the top twelve. Now, the twelve fastest drivers from the first round would fight for the pole in a ten minute battle.

        Matt Kenseth was the first driver on track in the second round. He ran a good lap and jumped to the provisional pole spot. All the cars began to file onto the track and Kenseth looked to be in good shape on the point. Three minutes into the session, though, Kyle Larson propelled himself to the top of the board after a struggling first round. He was on top, but Kyle Busch was on track. Busch fell just short of Larson and it looked like Larson was in control, but six minutes remained. With about four minutes left, the field began to file back on track for their second runs. On his second run, Dylan Kwasniewski had trouble. His car began to break loose in turn 1 and he began to slide up the track. He almost saved the car, but he backed into the outside wall. He was able to drive away, but he had significant damage. This brought out the red flag with only two minutes left. The wreckage was quickly cleaned up and some of the drivers went on track for their final runs of the session. Some improved their laps slightly, but the red and black flag waved with Kyle Larson still sitting on provisional pole. This gave him his first career pole in the Nationwide Series at the track he almost took his first win at one year ago.

        This qualifying session ended pretty much the same as the Spring race at Bristol did one year ago. Last year in the race, Kyle Larson came up just short of Kyle Busch in attempting to take his first win in the series. After today's session, the only difference was Larson came out on top of Busch, but it was still a very close margin. Trends would show that this race might end up the same as it did one year ago. Both Larson and Busch are extremely fast and they will both be at the front to start the event. This year, though, the running order might end up flipped. Matt Kenseth also had a very clean session today. He wasn't mentioned much, but he was in the top three at the end of both rounds of qualifying. He seems fast and he could be a part of the battle between the two Kyle's. Kevin Harvick also has to be counted in this battle as he rolls of sixth this weekend. Plus, don't count out the Nationwide Series regulars. Brian Scott, Regan Smith, Trevor Bayne, and others look fast and they could very well take a win today at Bristol. Even the rookies have a chance. Ryan Blaney has been consistent all weekend and Chase Elliott was fastest in one of the practice sessions. Everything is unknown when we head to Bristol. One thing is for sure: the action will be amazing. The 2014 Drive to Stop Diabetes 300 starts in just a few short moments. Will Kyle Busch repeat at the track, will Kyle Larson redeem himself after coming so close last season, will a series regular take a victory, or will a rookie show all the veterans how it is done? We don't have to wait too long to find these questions out and more. 
(More Stats Down Below!)




Top 5 Qualifiers (With Times):
1st: Kyle Larson      15.415 (124.476 mph)
2nd: Kyle Busch     15.436 (124.307 mph)
3rd: Matt Kenseth     15.451 (124.186 mph)
4th: Brian Scott     15.525 (123.594 mph)
5th: Ryan Blaney     15.561 (123.308 mph)

Notables Not in Top 5 (With Times):
6th: Kevin Harvick     15.575 (123.197 mph)
7th: Regan Smith      15.579 (123.166 mph)
9th: Ty Dillon     15.748 (121.844 mph)
11th: Dylan Kwasniewski      15.828 (121.228 mph)
14th: Trevor Bayne     15.543 (123.451 mph)*
15th: Chase Elliott      15.561 (123.308 mph)*
18th: Elliott Sadler      15.609 (122.929 mph)*
20th: Brendan Gaughan      15.637 (122.709 mph)*
(*: These four drivers were faster than some of the drivers in the top twelve, but they all missed the second round of qualifying.)

DNQ:
41st: Willie Allen     16.387 (117.093 mph)




Credits:
-My Own Notes
-Statistics:
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nationwide-series/leaderboard/leaderboard-qualification.html
http://racing-reference.info/getqualify/2014-04/B
-Image:
https://twitter.com/pixelcrisp/status/444855780383424512/photo/1