Kevin Harvick Inc. drivers Elliott Sadler and Clint Bowyer, backed up their Nationwide Series front row start in Daytona with a similar performance at Talladega Superspeedway.
Sadler, who joined KHI to run a full Nationwide series schedule, turned a lap of 179.558mph and Clint Bowyer, a full time Cup driver at Richard Childress Racing, averaged 179.373mph at the 2.66 mile oval.
"There's no secret how good these restrictor-plate cars have been the last couple of years," Sadler said. "It shows a lot of hard work by Kevin Harvick and everybody on his race team."
Dale Earnhardt Jr., a track favorite who has had plenty of restrictor-plate success of his own over the years, qualified third with a run of 179.115.
"The Nationwide Series is fun to race in," Earnhardt said. "The races I don't run... There have been times where I'll sit there and watch that race and about halfway through it I'm thinking, 'Why in the world didn't I do something to be in the race?'"
Harvick qualified 11th, current Nationwide points leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 14th, defending Aaron's 312 winner, Brad Keselowski, 16th and Alabama native Mike Harmon 28th.
"We are definitely going in the right direction," Sadler said. "Finishing 38th at Daytona put us in a huge hole. We were fast [in the next two races], we just couldn't dig ourselves out of that hole. And then we put three top-fives together in a row.
"We have a really good race team. I just want to be consistent enough to get our team back in contention to where we need to be."
Sadler, who joined KHI to run a full Nationwide series schedule, turned a lap of 179.558mph and Clint Bowyer, a full time Cup driver at Richard Childress Racing, averaged 179.373mph at the 2.66 mile oval.
"There's no secret how good these restrictor-plate cars have been the last couple of years," Sadler said. "It shows a lot of hard work by Kevin Harvick and everybody on his race team."
Dale Earnhardt Jr., a track favorite who has had plenty of restrictor-plate success of his own over the years, qualified third with a run of 179.115.
"The Nationwide Series is fun to race in," Earnhardt said. "The races I don't run... There have been times where I'll sit there and watch that race and about halfway through it I'm thinking, 'Why in the world didn't I do something to be in the race?'"
Harvick qualified 11th, current Nationwide points leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 14th, defending Aaron's 312 winner, Brad Keselowski, 16th and Alabama native Mike Harmon 28th.
"We are definitely going in the right direction," Sadler said. "Finishing 38th at Daytona put us in a huge hole. We were fast [in the next two races], we just couldn't dig ourselves out of that hole. And then we put three top-fives together in a row.
"We have a really good race team. I just want to be consistent enough to get our team back in contention to where we need to be."