Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wins pole for NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Atlanta

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the first pole position of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career by posting the fastest qualifying speed for Sunday night’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Stenhouse, 25, turned a lap of 189.688 mph in his No. 17 Ford on Friday to capture the first starting position at the 1.54-mile Atlanta track.

Carl Edwards, Stenhouse’s teammate at Roush Fenway Racing, qualified second at 189.021 mph and will start alongside Stenhouse on the front row.

Juan Pablo Montoya was third at 188.539 mph and Denny Hamlin was fourth at 188.533.

The remaining top-10 qualifiers were Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Martin Truex Jr. (whose broken right wrist is in a cast), Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch and series points leader Jimmie Johnson.

Stenhouse’s girlfriend is fellow Cup driver Danica Patrick, and she qualified 21st at 186.109 mph.

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