Kyle Larson denies Chris Buescher the NASCAR Cup pole…

Last spring at Kansas, it was Kyle Larson versus Chris Buescher for the race win in the closest photo finish the Cup Series has ever seen. This weekend, it was the same two drivers again in the fight for pole, but it wasn't quite as close. This is Larson's 22nd career pole, but his first of the 2025 season and his first at Kansas as well.

"Pretty ironic to have us both on the front row here after our close finish a year ago," smiled Larson. "It's cool to finally get a pole here at Kansas too. I feel like I've been just short a number of times and I hope they still give out that pedal car (for pole) because that's what I've always wanted. Especially with having some kids so I hope that's still a thing. Just proud of our team ... thanks to Chevy, the engine shop, everybody. So yeah, off to a good start."

On his expectations for tomorrow, Larson said: 'It seems like the pace is a lot faster throughout the run. Just in qualifying, we're three-quarters of a second faster than we were here in the fall with similar track conditions and temps. So yeah, the tires and the cars and the setups have all gotten better. I think it's going to be a fast-paced race, but I know our car is always good on mile-and-a-halfs. Just try to do a good job and execute on pit road and give ourselves late in the race like we did last year."

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images)

Buescher had pole, until the very last driver rolled off pit road — with Larson then eclipsing him by 0.056s, lapping the 1.5-miler in 29.391 seconds. Buescher has just five front row starts in his entire Cup career, and none since Texas in September, 2023.

“We could have manufactured a better story if we tried, could we? That was a really awesome lap for this Ford Mustang,” said Buescher. “I'm proud of this group. Practice was really solid and Texas last week was awesome so we came into here with a lot of high hopes and it's really showing up already. Missed it by that much, but we're in a good spot and that will put us in clean air for the start of this race at a track we've been really good at.”

Behind the front row, Christopher Bell led the Toyotas in third, Tyler Reddick was fourth, and Joey Logano was fifth. Ty Gibbs, William Byron, Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott, and Ryan Blaney filled out the remainder of the top ten.

Two drivers found the wall during the qualifying session, which proved costly. Josh Berry was the first to slide up into the wall, leaving him as the slowest of the 38 qualifiers. Kyle Busch got into fairly hard as well in Turns 3 and 4, qualifying 35th.

Some other notables starting deeper in the field: Denny Hamlin in 14th, Bubba Wallace 15th, Chase Briscoe 19th, Alex Bowman 21st, Ross Chastain 26th, and Brad Keselowski 36th.

Five drivers suffered tire failures due to low air pressures in practice, but this was not an issue that continued into qualifying.

Photos from Kansas - Practice & Qualifying

Cla	Driver	#	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	K. LarsonHendrick Motorsports	5	Chevrolet	1	29.391		183.730
2	C. BuescherRFK Racing	17	Ford	1	+0.057 29.448	0.057	183.374
3	C. BellJoe Gibbs Racing	20	Toyota	1	+0.074 29.465	0.017	183.268
4	T. Reddick23XI Racing	45	Toyota	1	+0.093 29.484	0.019	183.150
5	J. LoganoTeam Penske	22	Ford	1	+0.138 29.529	0.045	182.871
6	T. GibbsJoe Gibbs Racing	54	Toyota	1	+0.160 29.551	0.022	182.735
7	W. ByronHendrick Motorsports	24	Chevrolet	1	+0.178 29.569	0.018	182.624
8	D. SuarezTrackHouse Racing	99	Chevrolet	1	+0.202 29.593	0.024	182.476
9	C. ElliottHendrick Motorsports	9	Chevrolet	1	+0.204 29.595	0.002	182.463
10	R. BlaneyTeam Penske	12	Ford	1	+0.205 29.596	0.001	182.457
11	M. McDowellSpire Motorsports	71	Chevrolet	1	+0.222 29.613	0.017	182.352
12	J. HaleySpire Motorsports	7	Chevrolet	1	+0.234 29.625	0.012	182.278
13	A. CindricTeam Penske	2	Ford	1	+0.236 29.627	0.002	182.266
14	D. HamlinJoe Gibbs Racing	11	Toyota	1	+0.242 29.633	0.006	182.229
15	B. Wallace23XI Racing	23	Toyota	1	+0.243 29.634	0.001	182.223
16	E. JonesLegacy Motor Club	43	Toyota	1	+0.279 29.670	0.036	182.002
17	J. NemechekLegacy Motor Club	42	Toyota	1	+0.283 29.674	0.004	181.977
18	Z. SmithFront Row Motorsports	38	Ford	1	+0.291 29.682	0.008	181.928
19	C. BriscoeJoe Gibbs Racing	19	Toyota	1	+0.293 29.684	0.002	181.916
20	A. DillonRichard Childress Racing	3	Chevrolet	1	+0.314 29.705	0.021	181.788
21	A. BowmanHendrick Motorsports	48	Chevrolet	1	+0.325 29.716	0.011	181.720
22	C. HocevarSpire Motorsports	77	Chevrolet	1	+0.402 29.793	0.077	181.251
23	T. GillilandFront Row Motorsports	34	Ford	1	+0.434 29.825	0.032	181.056
24	N. GragsonFront Row Motorsports	4	Ford	1	+0.449 29.840	0.015	180.965
25	R. Herbst23XI Racing	35	Toyota	1	+0.455 29.846	0.006	180.929
26	R. ChastainTrackHouse Racing	1	Chevrolet	1	+0.456 29.847	0.001	180.923
27	R. Stenhouse JrHyak Motorsports	47	Chevrolet	1	+0.460 29.851	0.004	180.898
28	C. Heim23XI Racing	67	Toyota	1	+0.508 29.899	0.048	180.608
29	T. DillonKaulig Racing	10	Chevrolet	1	+0.583 29.974	0.075	180.156
30	R. PreeceRFK Racing	60	Ford	1	+0.625 30.016	0.042	179.904
31	C. CusterHaas Factory Team	41	Ford	1	+0.625 30.016	0.000	179.904
32	J. LoveRichard Childress Racing	33	Chevrolet	1	+0.679 30.070	0.054	179.581
33	A. AllmendingerKaulig Racing	16	Chevrolet	1	+0.769 30.160	0.090	179.045
34	S. van GisbergenTrackHouse Racing	88	Chevrolet	1	+0.822 30.213	0.053	178.731
35	K. BuschRichard Childress Racing	8	Chevrolet	1	+0.993 30.384	0.171	177.725
36	B. KeselowskiRFK Racing	6	Ford	1	+1.211 30.602	0.218	176.459
37	C. WareRick Ware Racing	51	Ford	1	+1.761 31.152	0.550	173.344
38	J. BerryWood Brothers Racing	21	Ford	1	+2.015 31.406	0.254	171.942