NASCAR at Atlanta 2017 Qualifying Results: Race Order, Final Times and Reaction

On the heels of last week's thrilling Daytona 500, NASCAR moves Sunday to Atlanta for the QuikTrip 500 with Kevin Harvick starting from the pole position. 

Harvick earned the No. 1 spot with a qualifying time of 29.118 seconds and top speed of 190.398 mph. Joining him on the front line will be Ryan Newman. 

Here's the full starting grid for the second NASCAR race of the season:

Position	Driver	Best Speed (MPH)	Time (Seconds)
1	Kevin Harvick	190.398	29.118
2	Ryan Newman	189.87	29.199
3	Kyle Busch	189.85	29.202
4	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	188.854	29.356
5	Brad Keselowski	188.783	29.367
6	Joey Logano	188.738	29.374
7	Jamie McMurray	188.591	29.397
8	Kyle Larson	187.722	29.533
9	Martin Truex Jr.	187.716	29.534
10	Denny Hamlin	187.652	29.544
11	Chase Elliott	187.589	29.554
12	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	187.089	29.633
13	Kurt Busch	186.988	29.649
14	Ryan Blaney	186.623	29.707
15	Trevor Bayne	186.604	29.71
16	Matt Kenseth	186.428	29.738
17	Paul Menard	186.397	29.743
18	Jimmie Johnson	186.309	29.757
19	Austin Dillon	186.165	29.78
20	A.J. Allmendinger	185.084	29.954
21	Daniel Suarez	185.028	29.963
22	Matt DiBenedetto	185.022	29.964
23	Erik Jones	184.107	30.113
24	Danica Patrick	182.705	30.344
25	Clint Bowyer	186.522	29.723
26	Ty Dillon	186.121	29.787
27	Landon Cassill	185.3	29.919
28	Chris Buescher	185.245	29.928
29	Kasey Kahne	185.09	29.953
30	Aric Almirola	184.591	30.034
31	Gray Gaulding	182.362	30.401
32	Corey LaJoie	181.188	30.598
33	Reed Sorensen	180.604	30.697
34	David Ragan	13.126	422.357
35	Jeffrey Earnhardt	-	-
36	Michael McDowell	-	-
37	Cole Whitt	-	-
38	Derrike Cope	-	-
39	Cody Ware	-	-

Full starting grid via NASCAR.com

Newman was in the driver's seat for the pole after the second round but was forced to settle for the No. 2 spot when Harvick slid past him in the final round with a time of 29.118 seconds. 

It's not a surprise that Newman was in contention for the pole on the track at Atlanta, though just missing out doesn't jive with his usual result, via Atlanta Motor Speedway:

Rebounding from a disappointing 38th-place finish at Daytona last week, Kyle Busch will start from the second row. He was able to finish third in last year's Chase for the Cup in large part by getting off to a strong start, including nine top-five finishes over the first 11 races. 

Busch posted the fastest qualifying lap in round one at 29.136 seconds, so this track clearly agrees with him much more than Daytona did. 

Another driver who will be looking for a better performance this weekend is Dale Earnhardt Jr. The No. 88 car was unable to finish at Daytona following a crash caused by Busch, who blew out a tire, on Lap 104. 

After qualifying 12th in Atlanta, Earnhardt sounded pleased with his effort Friday and ready to roll this weekend:

Jimmie Johnson, who won this race last year, finds himself starting 18th after a disappointing qualifying turn. He has proven in the past starting in the middle of the pack won't impact his ability to take home the checkered flag. 

For instance, last year, Johnson started 19th and moved into the top spot before winning under a caution to earn the first of his five race victories en route to a seventh NASCAR Series Cup title. 

Post-Race Reaction

Harvick stayed modest after winning the pole.

“It was good timing on hitting a good lap from the seat,” Harvick told Chase Wilhelm of Fox Sports. “It says a lot about our team and our organization. We felt pretty good about our race car in race trim. We didn’t spend a lot of time in qualifying trim.”

Newman did acknowledge his frustration at being unable to break the tie with Buddy Baker for most poles at the track in Atlanta. 

“I really wanted to beat my ‘ol buddy, Buddy Baker’s record there, I’ve been tied with him for a while so that was kind of rough,” Newman said on the FS1 broadcast (h/t Daniel McFadin of NBC Sports). “This is the litmus test for us for a lot of the rest of the season and it was a good start for sure.”