Larson Soars to First 2025 Cup Pole, Crushes Buescher at Kansas Again

Kyle Larson was the final car to go out on track in Saturday's NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Kansas Speedway, and he proceeded to secure his first pole position as he delivered another round of heartbreak to Chris Buescher.

Larson's pole-winning run came on the strength of a 29.391-second (183.730 mph) lap time, which bumped Buescher from the provisional pole position by a narrow margin of 0.057 seconds.

STARTING LINEUP: AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway

Of course, Larson topped Buescher for the race win in the 2024 editon of the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway by the closest margin in NASCAR Cup Series history -- 0.001 seconds.

"Pretty ironic, I guess. You know to have us both on the front row after our close finish a year ago," Larson said. "It's cool to finally get a pole here, too, at Kansas. I feel like I've been just short a number of times, and I hope they still give out that pedal car. That's what I've always wanted, and especially having some kids. I hope that's still a thing. But just proud of the HendrickCars.com team."

The pole marks the 22nd career pole position for Larson, and it comes in his 378th start in the NASCAR Cup Series.

And for those wondering, they do still award a pedal car for pole winners at Kansas Speedway.

Picked up a pedal car for the kids. pic.twitter.com/A4I7iNRiIt
— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) May 10, 2025

While Buescher was heartbreakingly close to his second career pole position, the driver will have great track position as he attempts to avenge his bitter loss in this race a season ago.

Christopher Bell, who came into this event on a three-race pole-winning streak at Kansas Speedway, came up just shy at nabbing another one as he finished third-fastest in the qualifying session in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE.

While Bell has six top-10 finishes over his last seven starts at the 1.5-mile track, he is still seeking his first victory at Kansas Speedway.

Tyler Reddick would record the fourth-fastest qualifying time in the session, but the No. 45 23XI Racing team will lose pit selection for this race after their car failed pre-race inspection multiple times on Saturday. Reddick will also be without car chief Michael Hobson, who was ejected.

Still, Reddick will start from a solid position in Sunday's race.

Joey Logano, last week's race winner at Texas Motor Speedway, surprised to notch the fifth-place starting spot.

Ty Gibbs, William Byron, Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott, and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top-10 qualifers for Sunday's AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway.

A couple of drivers found trouble in qualifying on Saturday afternoon.

Kyle Busch, who had a decent qualifying run going, slid up into the outside wall in Turns 3 and 4 and rode the wall during his timed lap. As a result, Busch could only muster the 35th-fastest lap in the 38-car field.

Hold on! 😬 pic.twitter.com/vIXncbvbyN
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 10, 2025

Josh Berry, likewise, collided with the wall in Turns 3 and 4 during his qualifying run. Berry's car got bogged down with the wall contact more than Busch's did, and as a result, Berry turned in the slowest qualifying time of the session and will start shotgun on the field from the 38th position.

In #BuschLightPole qualifying, you NEED to commit to the throttle. pic.twitter.com/VsZvZd9jiN
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 10, 2025

Other notables in qualifying included Austin Cindric (13th), Denny Hamlin (14th), Bubba Wallace (15th), Alex Bowman (21st), Ross Chastain (26th), and Brad Keselowski (36th).

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