BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kevin Harvick has become the best qualifier in NASCAR’s top series, at least for this season.

The veteran driver won the pole position for Saturday night’s Sprint Cup Series event at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday night. It’s his series-high fifth top starting spot of the season, and just the 11th in 490 starts in his career.

The secret?

“Faster cars,” Harvick said with a wide grin. “That’s it.”‘

Harvick, in his first season with Stewart-Haas Racing, set a track record with a lap at 131.362 mph that knocked Jeff Gordon from the top spot. Gordon, the series points leader, will start second at 131.290.

“Any time you beat the 24 right now, things are going ok,” Harvick said.

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Gordon was equally pleased.

“I thought I had a really good laps that first run out,” he said. “I came on the radio and I said, ‘That is all I got.’ When you go do that and the car is well balanced and you get a good lap, you know that it’s up to somebody else to just take a little more risk and maybe get it, and Kevin did that.”

 It’s the kind of jumble that can make even the most seasoned driver nervous.

Matt Kenseth stands fifth in the points standings and seems a lock to make in into NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup championship when the 10-race playoffs begin in three weeks at Chicagoland Speedway.

But the 2003 series champion is still winless this season. With three races remaining in the regular-season, including two on unpredictable short tracks, he’s not banking on anything just yet.

“I never feel like you’re a lock for anything until you’re really a lock for something,” Kenseth said Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway, the first of those short tracks to be navigated in the next three races.

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“Until it’s mathematically impossible to be out, I never feel like you’re in. We want to win.”

He’s still in a lot less precarious position than, say, Greg Biffle.

Twelve drivers are already locked into the playoffs as race winners. Kenseth’s 709 points put him 13th in the Chase standings, 49 points ahead of Biffle, who is in the final qualifying spot.

Three drivers – Kasey Kahne, Austin Dillon and Kyle Larson – are within 24 points of Biffle, and the list of non-winners also includes very capable drivers like Kahne, Paul Menard and Jamie McMurray.

In NASCAR’s new format, a win by any of them, or by one of several other drivers, would allow the race-winner to jump into the championship field.

RYAN TRUEX IS back behind the wheel of his Toyota for BK Racing at Bristol Motor Speedway.

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The driver missed last weekend’s race at Michigan after he sustained a concussion during a single-car crash during practice.

The 22-year-old rookie was taken to the hospital and underwent CT scans of his head, neck, chest and abdomen, which were all negative.

NATIONWIDE: Ryan Blaney beat Kyle Busch on the final restart to win the Food City 300 at Bristol, Tennessee.

FORMULA ONE: Max Verstappen will find himself in a unique position next year: fitting his school exams around his debut as the youngest ever Formula One driver.

When the 2015 F1 championship starts in Australia in March, Verstappen will be only 17. It will also be his final year of school, as he shares the cockpit with the classroom.

The Dutch teen, who competes in this year’s European Formula Three title, has been signed by Toro Rosso – Red Bull’s feeder club – in a move that divides F1 opinion.


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