Written by Adrian Beecher
Whitesville, KY – In round 1 of qualifying, Chris Buscher surprised the field with the top spot in the opening round. David Ragen was the final car in the field to make in the 2nd round, running in the 24th position. Just missing out on the 2nd round was Bubba Wallace, running a 29.263-second lap. Four drivers failed to make qualifying laps, including Denny Hamlin, Matt Dibenedetto, Jesse Little, and Timmy Hill
Round two saw our fastest lap of the day to this point on the track, with Martin Truex Jr. burning off a 28.575-second lap. Kyle Busch ran the 2nd fastest lap with a 28.662-second lap, just 0.087-seconds off Truex Jr. The 12th and final spot of round 2 was sealed up by Daniel Suarez, running a 28.831-second lap. Just missing the cut a qualifying for Saturday’s race in 13th position was Austin Dillon, who was just 0.020-seconds slower than Suarez.
Truex Jr. would follow up his round two performance with a 28.599-second lap to take the top spot away from Kevin Harvick, who ran a 28.640. With just a minute left in the final round of qualifying, only a few cars made their way onto the track. One that did, was the #20 of Erik Jones, who snagged the 2nd spot from Harvick, running a 28.611-second lap. Jones is coming in hot after his win last week in Daytona in the Coke Zero Sugar 400.
Starting Lineup for the 2018 Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Motor Speedway
| RNK | DRIVER | SPEED | TIME | BEHIND |
| 1 | #78 Martin Truex Jr. | 188.89 | 28.588 | 0 |
| 2 | #20 Erik Jones | 188.739 | 28.611 | 0.023 |
| 3 | #4 Kevin Harvick | 188.547 | 28.64 | 0.052 |
| 4 | #2 Brad Keselowski | 188.39 | 28.664 | 0.076 |
| 5 | #18 Kyle Busch | 188.206 | 28.692 | 0.104 |
| 6 | #21 Paul Menard | 188.121 | 28.705 | 0.117 |
| 7 | #12 Ryan Blaney | 187.944 | 28.732 | 0.144 |
| 8 | #14 Clint Bowyer | 187.696 | 28.77 | 0.182 |
| 9 | #41 Kurt Busch | 187.63 | 28.78 | 0.192 |
| 10 | #31 Ryan Newman | 187.071 | 28.866 | 0.278 |
| 11 | #19 Daniel Suarez | 187 | 28.877 | 0.289 |
| 12 | #10 Aric Almirola | 186.884 | 28.895 | 0.307 |
| 13 | #3 Austin Dillon | 187.169 | 28.851 | 0.263 |
| 14 | #17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 187.071 | 28.866 | 0.278 |
| 15 | #88 Alex Bowman | 186.625 | 28.935 | 0.347 |
| 16 | #9 Chase Elliott | 186.548 | 28.947 | 0.359 |
| 17 | #6 Matt Kenseth | 186.522 | 28.951 | 0.363 |
| 18 | #42 Kyle Larson | 186.342 | 28.979 | 0.391 |
| 19 | #22 Joey Logano | 186.329 | 28.981 | 0.393 |
| 20 | #37 Chris Buescher | 186.181 | 29.004 | 0.416 |
| 21 | #24 William Byron | 186.143 | 29.01 | 0.422 |
| 22 | #1 Jamie McMurray | 185.886 | 29.05 | 0.462 |
| 23 | #34 Michael McDowell | 185.465 | 29.116 | 0.528 |
| 24 | #38 David Ragan | 184.716 | 29.234 | 0.646 |
| 25 | #43 Bubba Wallace | 184.533 | 29.263 | 0.675 |
| 26 | #47 AJ Allmendinger | 184.483 | 29.271 | 0.683 |
| 27 | #48 Jimmie Johnson | 184.42 | 29.281 | 0.693 |
| 28 | #13 Ty Dillon | 182.846 | 29.533 | 0.945 |
| 29 | #95 Kasey Kahne | 182.543 | 29.582 | 0.994 |
| 30 | #15 Ross Chastain | 181.178 | 29.805 | 1.217 |
| 31 | #72 Corey LaJoie | 180.385 | 29.936 | 1.348 |
| 32 | #23 J.J. Yeley | 179.868 | 30.022 | 1.434 |
| 33 | #0 Landon Cassill | 179.104 | 30.15 | 1.562 |
| 34 | #51 B.J. McLeod | 177.883 | 30.357 | 1.769 |
| 35 | #199 Garrett Smithley | 176.188 | 30.649 | 2.061 |
| 36 | #11 Denny Hamlin | 0 | 0 | 28.588 |
| 37 | #32 Matt DiBenedetto | 0 | 0 | 28.588 |
| 38 | #66 Timmy Hill | 0 | 0 | 28.588 |
| 39 | #107 Jesse Little | 0 | 0 | 28.588 |
