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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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