Kyle Busch on pole in bid for fourth win in row

Kyle Busch will start his drive for his fourth straight NASCAR Sprint Cup victory from the pole position. He turned a lap of 178.416 mph in his Toyota on Friday at Pocono Raceway, topping qualifying for the first time during his streak.

Busch has driven only nine Cup races because he missed the first 11 with a broken right leg and left foot. After four races in which he did not contend, he has won four times in the past five events heading into Sunday’s 400-mile race on the 2.5-mile trioval at Long Pond, Pa. He has never won at Pocono.

“Hopefully, it’s got 16 weeks left in it,” said Busch, who with six races left before the Chase is 23 points from cracking the top 30. That would clinch his spot in the 10-race playoff. “It’s just amazing what we’re on.”

He’s trying to become the first Cup driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to win four races in a row.

Series points leader Kevin Harvick was second in a Chevrolet, followed by Joey Logano in a Ford.

Logano refused to say Busch is the driver to beat down the stretch.

“It doesn’t get in our head. He is just fast right now,” Logano said.

“We are not slow by any means. We are close.”

IndyCar: Team owners will discuss this weekend potential replacements for IndyCar president Derrick Walker. He resigned Thursday effective at the end of the season, which has three races left. Juan Pablo Montoya holds a 42-point edge on Graham Rahal for the series lead heading into Sunday’s road race at MidOhio Sports Car Course.

Walker, who assumed the job in May 2013, took heat for problems this year with the new aerodynamic kits after three Chevrolets went airborne in practice before the Indianapolis 500. IndyCar then changed the qualifying rules and wound up helping Chevy, which angered rival Honda.