Kevin Harvick, the last driver in final qualifying, took the pole for Sunday’s GEICO 500 Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, turning a 49.247-second lap at 194.448 mph to edge Kurt Busch (49.340, 194.082 mph).

Qualifying Saturday came after NASCAR announced a rule change designed to decrease the speeds after Jamie McMurray’s spectacular wreck during Friday’s practice.

The two Fords will start in the front row, ahead of Toyotas driven by Martin Truex Jr. (49.482, 193.525 mph) and Denny Hamlin (49.633, 192.936 mph).

The context: McMurray had turned a lap of 203.975 mph just before his crash Friday, more than 6 mph faster than the fastest lap in practice in October. Brad Keselowski told ESPN.com that he estimated McMurray was going 210 mph at the time of his crash that sent him somersaulting down the track.

In response, NASCAR reduced the size of the holes in the restrictor plates from 56/64ths of an inch to 55/64ths, cutting approximately 12-15 horsepower and likely a few miles per hour. There was no additional practice scheduled for Sunday’s race following the change and ahead of qualifying and racing, a move that’s not unprecedented for NASCAR.

The GEICO 500 starts at 2 p.m. ET Sunday on Fox.

Starting lineup for the GEICO 500

  1. Kevin Harvick 2. Kurt Busch3. Martin Truex Jr.4. Denny Hamlin5. Chase Elliott6. Erik Jones7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.8. Clint Bowyer9. Joey Logano10. Brad Keselowski11. Alex Bowman12. David Ragan13. Paul Menard14. Daniel Suarez15. Darrell Wallace Jr.16. Jimmie Johnson17. William Byron18. Ryan Newman19. Kyle Busch20. Michael McDowell21. Trevor Bayne22. Kyle Larson23. Ryan Blaney24. Austin Dillon25. Chris Buescher26. Kasey Kahne27. Jamie McMurray28. AJ Almendinger29. Ty Dillon30. Brendan Gaughan31. DJ Kennington32. Timothy Peters33. Matt DiBenedetto34. Joey Gase35. Ross Chastain36. Cole Whitt37. Gray Gaulding38. Reed Sorenson39. Timmy Hill40. Aric Almirola

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