NASCAR at Texas 2019 Qualifying Results: Kevin Harvick Takes Pole Position

Kevin Harvick's weekend is off to a good start with a win in Saturday's qualifying run for the AAA Texas 500.

NASCAR's return to Texas Motor Speedway for the first time since March is shaping up to be a good one for Stewart Haas Racing. Harvick's pole win is his sixth of the year, most on the Monster Energy circuit. He beat out Erik Jones for the top spot by 0.123 seconds.

Sunday's race is a key step in the Monster Energy Cup Series Playoffs as the bridge event in the Round of 8 and the antepenultimate event of the season.

As things currently stand, the Championship 4 will include Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano. The four drivers on the outside still clinging to hope are Harvick, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott.

While that field of contenders will continue to sort itself out, here's how the 40-driver lineup will start out Sunday.

2019 AAA Texas 500 Starting Grid

Row 1: Kevin Harvick (pole), Erik Jones

Row 2: Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch

Row 3: Alex Bowman, Aric Almirola

Row 4: Daniel Suarez, Brad Keselowski

Row 5: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Matt DiBenedetto

Row 6: Joey Logano, Kyle Busch

Row 7: Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott

Row 8: Ryan Blaney, Daniel Hemric

Row 9: Martin Truex Jr., William Byron

Row 10: Ty Dillon, Chris Buescher

Row 11: Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace

Row 12: Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer

Row 13: Ryan Newman, David Ragan

Row 14: Michael McDowell, Ryan Preece

Row 15: John Hunter Nemechek, Parker Kligerman

Row 16: Paul Menard, Landon Cassill

Row 17: Corey LaJoie, J.J. Yeley

Row 18: Ross Chastain, Garrett Smithley

Row 19: Quin Houff, Joe Nemechek

Row 20: Josh Bilicki, Timmy Hill

Qualifying order via NASCAR.com

The last time Harvick started from the pole was at the Brickyard in September. He went on to win that race, which kicked off a string of five straight top-seven finishes for the No. 4 car.

He's finished inside the top 10 in each of the past two weeks and is in fifth place in the point standings, 14 points behind Logano.

Logano will have to make up ground Sunday if he wants to maintain his spot in the Championship 4. The No. 22 car will start from the 11th spot, though he sounded optimistic about his qualifying finish:

Truex, who enters this weekend with a 20-point lead over Hamlin for the top spot, will start from the 17th position in Row 9. He's on track to go an entire season without winning a pole, yet that hasn't prevented him from going home victorious seven times in the actual races.

Eight months ago Truex finished 12th at Texas Motor Speedway, which ended his streak of five straight top-10 showings. He's already locked up a spot in the Championship 4 thanks to his win in Martinsville last week, easing some of the pressure for these next two races.

There is still a great deal left to be sorted out this weekend in Texas and next week at Arizona. Harvick will attempt to take advantage of his performance Saturday with a win when the actual race begins at 3 p.m. ET Sunday.