Martinsville NASCAR: Kyle Busch beats Denny Hamlin to pole
Kyle Busch snatched pole position in a hectic NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying session at Martinsville
Busch - who won at Fontana last week - set a time of 18.998s (99.674 mph) to claim a new lap record at the half-mile track in the 12-car shootout for the pole.
Joe Gibbs Racing dominated the session, with Denny Hamlin joining Busch on the front row of the grid, just over two thousandths of a second behind.
Joey Logano set the fastest overall lap of the session with a time of 18.898s, but this came before the final shootout and the Penske driver could only manage third as he struggled to match his earlier form in the last 10 minutes.
Hendrick team-mates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon rounded off the top five, followed by last week's polesitter Matt Kenseth and a resurgent Tony Stewart, who capitalised by setting a time late in the session, beating Carl Edwards and Jamie McMurray's earlier efforts.
Danica Patrick qualified 10th for Stewart-Haas after making her first appearance in the final shootout this season.
Brad Keselowski struggled to match the pace of team-mate Logano and missed the last segment of qualifying for the first time this year.
The 2012 champion starts the race in 14th place.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Toyota 18.998s 2. Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Toyota 19.022s +0.024s 3. Joey Logano Penske Ford 19.045s +0.047s 4. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet 19.093s +0.095s 5. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet 19.118s +0.120s 6. Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Toyota 19.118s +0.120s 7. Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 19.150s +0.152s 8. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford 19.157s +0.159s 9. Jamie McMurray Ganassi Chevrolet 19.200s +0.202s 10. Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 19.290s +0.292s 11. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford 19.369s +0.371s 12. Clint Bowyer Waltrip Toyota 19.445s +0.447s 13. Brian Vickers Waltrip Toyota 19.134s Q1 14. Brad Keselowski Penske Ford 19.141s Q1 15. AJ Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Chevrolet 19.149s Q1 16. Ryan Newman Childress Chevrolet 19.151s Q1 17. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford 19.183s Q1 18. Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 19.184s Q1 19. Alex Bowman BK Toyota 19.193s Q1 20. Aric Almirola Petty Ford 19.200s Q1 21. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet 19.203s Q1 22. Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 19.203s Q1 23. Casey Mears Germain Chevrolet 19.205s Q1 24. David Ragan Front Row Ford 19.205s Q1 25. Justin Allgaier HScott Chevrolet 19.238s Q1 26. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet 19.248s Q1 27. Kasey Kahne Hendrick Chevrolet 19.252s Q1 28. Kyle Larson Ganassi Chevrolet 19.257s Q1 29. Travis Kvapil Go FAS Ford 19.274s Q1 30. Ricky Stenhouse Jr Roush Fenway Ford 19.282s Q1 31. Martin Truex Jr Furniture Row Ford 19.283s Q1 32. Michael McDowell Leavine Ford 19.322s Q1 33. Josh Wise Parsons Chevrolet 19.331s Q1 34. Austin Dillon Childress Chevrolet 19.345s Q1 35. Cole Whitt Swan Toyota 19.358s Q1 36. Landon Cassill Hillman Chevrolet 19.370s Q1 37. David Stremme Mace Toyota 19.385s Q1 38. Ryan Truex BK Toyota 19.402s Q1 39. David Gilliland Front Row Ford 19.430s Q1 40. Michael Annett Baldwin Chevrolet 19.478s Q1 41. Parker Kligerman Swan Toyota 19.506s Q1 42. Reed Sorenson Baldwin Chevrolet 19.511s Q1 43. Joe Nemechek NEMCO Toyota 19.657s Q1 Did not qualify David Reutimann MDS Ford Dave Blaney Humphrey Ford
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