• Associated Press

Jun 3, 2023, 01:16 PM ET

MADISON, Ill. —

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    Blaney turned the fastest lap during first qualifying runs on a brutally hot Saturday morning just outside St. Louis. But he didn’t quite replicate it in the pole shootout: Busch had a lap of 137.187 mph while Blaney had a lap of 137.153 mph.

    Busch’s pole came about 12 hours after his family’s winning night at Doe Run Raceway. Busch won in an outlaw winged micro sprint car at the dirt track about an hour south in Missouri, while his son Brexton won in his junior sprint.

    “We’ll try to get some momentum rolling,” said Busch, who battled with winner Joey Logano in the Cup Series’ debut at World Wide Technology Raceway last year. “Just excited to have the guys pumped up and raring to go.”

    Denny Hamlin qualified third, Kevin Harvick was fourth and Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top five.

    Hamlin said he was still feeling sore after Monday’s wreck with Chase Elliott, who was handed a one-race suspension by NASCAR for the intentional hooking maneuver. Hamlin said it was one of the hardest hits that any Joe Gibbs Racing driver has experienced in the Next Gen car, right along with his Daytona wreck this past August.

    “I told my team all this did was remind me, you know, that I’m not built for these types of impacts. Many of them in a row, that’s for sure,” said Hamlin, who had a compression fracture in his back from a 2013 wreck and a history of chronic back pain. “It was certainly a tough week. I don’t want to do many more of these, that’s for sure.”

    A sellout crowd of about 60,000 is expected Sunday for the second trip by NASCAR’s top series to the St. Louis area. But with temperatures expected to hit the mid-90s by the afternoon start, it could be a grueling day for drivers and fans alike.

    “It might be a little tough to pass,” Busch said. “I hope I’m wrong and it widens out and we can have a good show for these fans that are coming out to pack the house and sit in this heat.”