Kyle Busch gets into his car during qualifying Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race.HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Kyle Busch thought he got the jump on the competition with a pole-winning run Friday evening at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Then he was bumped out of the first position by Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, and the politics began.
Hamlin gets the first pick of pit stalls for winning the pole, but Busch wants that spot. Busch is one of four drivers racing Sunday for the NASCAR Cup Series championship, and Hamlin is not.
Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr. also will be racing for the season title, and Busch covets any advantage possible.
“It’s a discussion,” Hamlin said about the strategy the JGR camp will use. “I mean, my pit crew is a second slower than Kyle’s. Everything is earned, nothing is given. We’ll have the discussion.”
Truex was in a similar position last year and asked Hamlin, a fellow Toyota driver, to give him the first pit stall, but Hamlin declined. Busch didn’t think his luck would be any better, but it might not matter – Truex went on to win the race and the championship with Furniture Row Racing.