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Kyle Busch won the pole for the Wurth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway in qualifying on Saturday, posting a lap of 22.196 (162.191 MPH) in the final round to win his first pole of the 2024 season and his first since Gateway last June. Busch's pole is also the 34th of his Cup career overall, breaking a tie with Fonty Flock for the 22nd most in NASCAR history.

Saturday's practice and qualifying sessions featured cool temperatures and heavy tire wear, and it also featured major problems for two Cup rookies. First, Zane Smith spun and backed his car into the wall, and then Kaz Grala crashed hard when he overcorrected on the exit of turn 4, sending him head-on into the outside wall. Neither driver was able to make a qualifying lap afterwards, and Grala will be forced to go to a backup car for Sunday's race.

Christopher Bell nearly joined those two in qualifying, as he spun in the middle of turns 3 and 4 and very nearly backed his car into the wall as well. However, Bell was able to drive out of the spin and keep from suffering major damage, only scuffing the paint off his rear bumper as he drove off and back to pit road.

Practice featured a bit of a blast from the past, as NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson -- the all-time winningest driver at Dover -- displayed some of his old mastery by posting the fifth fastest lap overall. However, Johnson's speed did not carry over to qualifying and he will roll off 27th on Sunday.

Corey Heim, making his Cup Series debut subbing for the injured Erik Jones, qualified 32nd. On the other end of the grid, Noah Gragson followed up a career-best third place finish at Talladega by qualifying fifth to earn the best starting spot of his Cup career.

Wurth 400 starting lineup

  1. #8 - Kyle Busch
  2. #12 - Ryan Blaney
  3. #24 - William Byron
  4. #45 - Tyler Reddick
  5. #10 - Noah Gragson
  6. #11 - Denny Hamlin
  7. #14 - Chase Briscoe
  8. #34 - Michael McDowell
  9. #48 - Alex Bowman
  10. #16 - A.J. Allmendinger
  11. #2 - Austin Cindric
  12. #4 - Josh Berry (R)
  13. #22 - Joey Logano
  14. #31 - Daniel Hemric
  15. #19 - Martin Truex Jr.
  16. #23 - Bubba Wallace
  17. #47 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  18. #17 - Chris Buescher
  19. #54 - Ty Gibbs
  20. #77 - Carson Hocevar (R)
  21. #5 - Kyle Larson
  22. #1 - Ross Chastain
  23. #3 - Austin Dillon
  24. #6 - Brad Keselowski
  25. #7 - Corey LaJoie
  26. #21 - Harrison Burton
  27. #84 - Jimmie Johnson
  28. #41 - Ryan Preece
  29. #9 - Chase Elliott
  30. #38 - Todd Gilliland
  31. #99 - Daniel Suarez
  32. #43 - Corey Heim
  33. #20 - Christopher Bell
  34. #42 - John Hunter Nemechek
  35. #15 - Kaz Grala (R)
  36. #51 - Justin Haley
  37. #71 - Zane Smith (R)