Stewart-Haas Racing saw two of its four cars go to the back for Saturday night’s Digital Ally 400 (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and five of the top eight from qualifying had their times disallowed after failing pre-race/post-qualifying inspection for the enhanced weekend at Kansas Speedway. All told, 11 cars saw their qualifying times disallowed. Aric Almirola (No. 10 Ford) was slated to start second and Daniel Suarez (No. 41 Ford) was slated to start fourth, but both cars failed inspection on the first attempt and saw their times tossed out. They lined up behind every car that passed on the first go-round. RELATED: See every car in the field | Kansas lineup | Full Kansas schedule Chase Elliott (No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet), the most-recent Kansas winner, as well as Martin Truex Jr. (No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota), a two-time Kansas winner and last weekend’s victor at Dover, also failed inspection. Kyle Larson’s No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet also did not pass the first time through. Elliott qualified fifth on Friday, Truex qualified sixth, while Larson was eighth-fastest in single-car qualifying. Ty Dillon (No. 13 Germain Racing Chevrolet) also was among the drivers whose cars failed inspection. He was set to start 15th Saturday night. Two-time Kansas winner and reigning series champion Joey Logano (No. 22 Team Penske Ford) also failed inspection. He was set to start 20th. The cars of Elliott, Larson and Logano each failed a second time through inspection and that meant each of those teams lost a crew member. Others who failed inspection on the first attempt: Michael McDowell (No. 34 Front Row Motorsports), set to start 23rd; Landon Cassill (No. 00 StarCom Racing Chevrolet), set to start 25th; Joey Gase (No. 46 MBM Motorsports Toyota), set to start 38th; Timmy Hill (No. 66 MBM Motorsports Toyota), set to start 39th.<doc-sep>KANSAS CITY, Kan. — After Friday afternoon’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Kansas Speedway, the question “What’s wrong with the Stewart-Haas cars?” may be a dead issue. Hurtling around the 1.5-mile track in 30.131 seconds (179.217 mph), Kevin Harvick led a Stewart-Haas Racing sweep of the front row time trials for Saturday’s Digital Ally 400 (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). RELATED: Which cars saw their times disallowed? | Qualifying results Harvick was .083 seconds faster than teammate Aric Almirola (178.725 mph), who in turned topped Clint Bowyer (178.324 mph) by .068 seconds. Daniel Suarez completed the SHR monopoly at 178.247 mph. Almirola’s and Suarez’s times were disallowed after both of their cars failed inspection on Saturday afternoon. The Busch Pole Award was Harvick’s third of the season, his fifth at Kansas and the 28th of his career. The driver of the No. 4 Ford picked up his third victory at the 1.5-mile track in this race last year, when he also started from the pole. Harvick’s performance in time trials backed up the speed he showed during Friday’s final practice, when his fastest lap was fourth on the speed chart, and his consecutive averages for 10, 15 and 20 laps were fastest across the board. “I thought we had a chance at the pole,” said Harvick, who is looking for his first victory of 2019 after a banner eight-win season last year. “We didn’t know exactly how fast it would run, and the guys did a great job. Really, this is a car that’s been a couple months in the making. “We knew we had some work to do on the mile-and-a-half race tracks with this particular package, and every department at Stewart-Haas Racing and the engine shop at Roush Yates — obviously, they’ve won a few races this year (with Team Penske). But they just continue to work, and the guys on this team have done a great job of detailing things out … “I’m happy with how my car drove. It has a ton of speed, and hopefully we can capitalize on it.” Bowyer, from nearby Emporia, Kansas, has yet to win at his home track. “It’s fun to be back at Kansas,” said Bowyer, whose best finish at the track (second) came in 2007. “It’s fun to be in a fast car at home. That’s the biggest thing. You come home and you just want to run good. I have been beat up pretty bad here. “There are so many media members, fans, family, everybody tells me how I have to do better at home. Obviously, everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing has been working hard to get us in Victory Lane and I think their efforts are really starting to show.”<doc-sep>The Telegraph Two of the surprise packages of this clay-court season have been British – initially Dan Evans, who made a deep run in Monte Carlo, and more lately Cameron Norrie, who played his second final in three weeks on Sunday. Unfortunately, Norrie wasn’t able to land a maiden ATP title in Lyon. But then he was up against Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has been the dominant force of 2021 outside the slams, and now stands at No 1 in the table of most rankings points gained since January 1. Nevertheless, it had been a hugely creditable effort for Norrie to go this far, especially when you consider that he took out top seed Dominic Thiem on Thursday, and then trounced big-hitting Russian Karen Khachanov in Saturday’s semi-final, losing only two games in the process. Norrie has come to clay late in his career, but it feels like this is developing into his favourite surface. He has one of the heaviest left-handed forehands in the game, loaded with top-spin, and uses it like a miniature version of Rafael Nadal. The result has been a tally of 14 wins and only four losses since he began his European clay-court swing in Barcelona. So while the French Open, which starts next Sunday, has traditionally been a graveyard of British hopes, there are reasons to hope that this year’s event could deliver some more positive results. Norrie’s previous final in Estoril had been a nervewracking affair which he eventually lost on a deciding-set tie-break to the more experienced Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Sunday was more straightforward for Tsitsipas, who needed only 69 minutes to hammer home a 6-3, 6-3 victory. It was Tsitsipas’ second title of the clay-court sequence, after he won Monte Carlo in mid-April, taking out Evans in the semi-final along the way. He has become a serious contender to upset the establishment – specifically Nadal and Novak Djokovic – at Roland Garros over the next few weeks. “I felt in good shape from the beginning of the tournament,” said Tsitsipas afterwards. “I am proud of today’s match, I knew it would be a difficult one against Cameron, who has been showing great tennis this week. He has been winning against good players and showing what the left hand can do on clay. “It was not an easy match today. I had to handle the nerves and I am proud of my performance and the way I stayed focused towards my goal.” On this year’s results, meanwhile, both Evans and Norrie stand among the world’s 20 most successful men. Evans is at No 16 and Norrie No 14. The next challenge for them both is to convert that ATP Tour form into a deep run at a major.<doc-sep>The NASCAR Cup Series is in action at Kansas Speedway on Saturday night. Traditionally, the top tier races on Sunday, but this week's race is a day earlier because of of Mother's Day. Kevin Harvick qualified on the pole and is a heavy favorite at 5-to-2. Kyle Busch opened as a 5-to-1 favorite at the Westgate, but after Stewart-Haas Racing showed speed in both practice and qualifying, Harvick claimed the top spot. Last week's winner at Dover, Martin Truex Jr., was as high as 7-to-1, but dropped back down to 8-to-1 after showcasing his Toyota. Harvick is the defending race winner at Kansas, but has yet to win a race this season. He is tied for the series-lead with Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon with three career checkered flags at the track. Through the first 11 races of the season, Harvick has eight top-10 finishes. Starting lineup for the Digital Ally 400 Kevin Harvick Aric Almirola Clint Bowyer Daniel Suarez Chase Elliott Martin Truex Jr. William Byron Kyle Larson Brad Keselowski Alex Bowman Erik Jones Bubba Wallace Kyle Busch Kurt Busch Ty Dillon Paul Menard Denny Hamlin Jimmie Johnson Ryan Blaney Joey Logano Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Austin Dillon Michael McDowell Corey LaJoie Landon Cassill Daniel Hemric Chris Buescher Ryan Newman Matt DiBenedetto Tyler Reddick Ryan Preece Bayley Currey David Ragan Quin Houff Matt Tifft Ross Chastain Cody Ware Joey Gase Timmy Hill Reed Sorenson How to watch the Digital Ally 400 Date : Saturday, May 11th : Saturday, May 11th Start time: 7:30 p.m. ET 7:30 p.m. ET TV : FS1 : FS1 Streaming : fuboTV : fuboTV Radio: MRN, SiriusXM, NASCAR Radio Our Pick: Kevin Harvick Going into the week, we were high on Martin Truex Jr. to go back-to-back, but after seeing practice and qualifying it's clear that Stewart-Haas Racing has the best equipment. Unfortunately the value is absolutely tanked for Harvick when it comes to betting straight up but he's extremely valuable from a daily fantasy perspective (more on that below). If you want a little longshot value, I'd consider betting any of the fellow SHR drivers (Clint Bowyer at 10-to-1, Aric Almirola at 16-to-1 and Daniel Suarez at 30-to-1) particularly Bowyer, who is from nearby Emporia, Kansas and still seeking his first win at the hometown track. All four SHR cars qualified one through four and all have value today. Free DraftKings Lineup Kevin Harvick ($10,600) Kurt Busch ($9,600) Clint Bowyer ($8,500) Aric Almirola ($8,100) Alex Bowman ($7,000) Ryan Preece ($6,100) So who wins the 2019 Digital Ally 400? And which long shots stun NASCAR? Visit SportsLine now to see the full projected leaderboard for NASCAR at Kansas on Saturday night, all from the model that has crushed its NASCAR picks.<doc-sep>
Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images NASCAR's weekend at Kansas Speedway got underway Friday with Kevin Harvick winning the pole for the Digital Ally 400. Harvick was at an advantage when he started his qualifying lap. He was the 38th out of 40 cars to go, leaving him with a strong idea of what time he'd have to beat. The 43-year-old earned the top spot with a time of 30.131 seconds, just ahead of runner-up Aric Almirola by 0.083 seconds. Here is the full starting order for Sunday's race, via NASCAR.com: Row 1: Kevin Harvick (pole), Aric Almirola Row 2: Clint Bowyer, Daniel Suarez Row 3: Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr. Row 4: William Byron, Kyle Larson Row 5: Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman Row 6: Erik Jones, Bubba Wallace Row 7: Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch Video Play Button Videos you might like Row 8: Ty Dillon, Paul Menard Row 9: Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson Row 10: Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano Row 11: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Dillon Row 12: Michael McDowell, Corey LaJoie Row 13: Landon Cassill, Daniel Hemric Row 14: Chris Buescher, Ryan Newman Row 15: Matt DiBenedetto, Tyler Reddick Row 16: Ryan Preece, Bayley Currey Row 17: David Ragan, Quin Houff Row 18: Matt Tifft, Ross Chastain Row 19: Cody Ware, Joey Gase Row 20: Timmy Hill, Reed Sorensen Harvick is in a familiar spot as he chases a second win here in as many years. He used the pole position last spring as a springboard to victory in Kansas. Right after Harvick earned the top spot in the field, he explained why the No. 4 car has a great chance of going all the way when the actual race begins: Starting from the front is nothing new for Harvick, who now leads the Monster Energy circuit with three pole wins in 2019. He's entering Saturday night's race in third place of the overall point standings, trailing Kyle Busch and Joey Logano. Those previous poles haven't yet led to victories in those races for Harvick. His best finish is fourth, which he's done four different times in 11 events. Kansas Speedway has been a favorite track for Harvick throughout his career. The Stewart-Haas Racing team member has finished top-three here in each of the past five years. Another SHR driver wasn't pleased to finish behind his teammate for the pole position: Almirola has reasons to be frustrated, even if he was joking in this particular instance. He has just one top-10 finish in the past four weeks, including back-to-back races at Bristol and Richmond outside the top 20. It was a good day for SRH, which locked out the second row with Kansas native Clint Bowyer and Daniel Suarez. Starting this weekend as the points leader, Busch didn't have a banner day in qualifying. The 2015 Monster Energy Cup Series champion is in the midst of a rough patch, at least by his standards, with three consecutive finishes outside the top five. The last time Busch made it through four straight races not in the top five was at the end of 2016 and start of 2017. Harvick will be the favorite to win Saturday night. His victory last year and strong run in qualifying make him worthy of that distinction. It's up to the rest of the field to prove it's capable of knocking Harvick off his perch as the 2019 season kicks into second gear.